The Masnou infralittoral sedimentary environment (Barcelona province)

7 pages, 6 figures

This study was undertaken using shallow-water multibeam echosounder and a Geo-Pulse system. Five groups of morphosedimentary features are identifi ed regarding their genesis. In the infralittoral environment of the El Masnou coast, four of them represent sedimentary features (depositional, erosive, instability and hydrodynamic features) and the fi fth one is an anthropogenic feature. The depositional features comprise infralittoral wedges; the erosive features include furrows and terraces; the instability features are characterized by slides; the hydrodynamic features refer to fi elds of large- (hundreds of meters long) and small- (tens of meters long) scale wavy bedforms; and the anthropogenic features comprise trenches and pits related to successive dredges. The late Holocene stratigraphy of the infralittoral environment is defi ned by two major seismic sequences, lower and upper, each one formed by internal seismic units. The development of this stratigraphy and stacking patterns has been governed by sea-level changes. The stratigraphic division represents the coastal response to the last 4th order transgressive and highstand conditions, modulated by small-scale sea level oscillations (≈1 m - 2 m) of 5th to 6th order

The work was supported by INTERREG European Project Beachmed-e project and the “Generalitat de Catalunya”

Peer Reviewed