Chapter 1
Coastal Dunes: Human Impact and Need
for Restoration
M. Luisa Martínez, Patrick A. Hesp and Juan B. Gallego-Fernández
1.1 The Heterogeneity of Coastal Dunes
1.1.1 Dune Types
Sandy coasts of the world are diverse in terms of morphology, vegetation, and
dynamics. The surfzone beach types can range from dissipative to intermediate to
reflective, tidal range from nontidal, micro- to macro-tidal, and they vary from
accreting or prograding, stable, aggradational, to eroding or retrogradational. They
may have no dunes at all, large dune systems extending over several kilometers
inland and alongshore, with massive coastal dunes in excess of 100m high, or the
dunes can be low (less than 1m high) and cover a small area. Coastal dunes can
vary considerably and may be various types of foredunes, parabolics, blowouts,
transgressive sheets, and dunefields (perhaps containing nebkha fields, deflation
basins, and plains [slacks], barchans, transverse dunes, barchanoids, star dunes,
and various erosional dune types) (Hesp 1991, 1999, 2012, 2011) (Fig. 1.1).
M. L. Martínez (&)
Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Antigua Carretera a Coatepec no.
351 91070 El Haya, Xalapa, Ver., Mexico
e-mail: marisa.martinez@inecol.edu.mx
P. A. Hesp
School of the Environment, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Flinders University,
GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
e-mail: Patrick.hesp@flinders.edu.au
J. B. Gallego-Fernández
Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla,
Ap.1095 41080 Sevilla, Spain
e-mail: galfer@us.es
M. L. Martínez et al. (eds.), Restoration of Coastal Dunes, Springer Series
on Environmental Management, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-33445-0_1,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
1
Coastal Dunes: Human Impact and Need
for Restoration
M. Luisa Martínez, Patrick A. Hesp and Juan B. Gallego-Fernández
1.1 The Heterogeneity of Coastal Dunes
1.1.1 Dune Types
Sandy coasts of the world are diverse in terms of morphology, vegetation, and
dynamics. The surfzone beach types can range from dissipative to intermediate to
reflective, tidal range from nontidal, micro- to macro-tidal, and they vary from
accreting or prograding, stable, aggradational, to eroding or retrogradational. They
may have no dunes at all, large dune systems extending over several kilometers
inland and alongshore, with massive coastal dunes in excess of 100m high, or the
dunes can be low (less than 1m high) and cover a small area. Coastal dunes can
vary considerably and may be various types of foredunes, parabolics, blowouts,
transgressive sheets, and dunefields (perhaps containing nebkha fields, deflation
basins, and plains [slacks], barchans, transverse dunes, barchanoids, star dunes,
and various erosional dune types) (Hesp 1991, 1999, 2012, 2011) (Fig. 1.1).
M. L. Martínez (&)
Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Antigua Carretera a Coatepec no.
351 91070 El Haya, Xalapa, Ver., Mexico
e-mail: marisa.martinez@inecol.edu.mx
P. A. Hesp
School of the Environment, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Flinders University,
GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
e-mail: Patrick.hesp@flinders.edu.au
J. B. Gallego-Fernández
Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla,
Ap.1095 41080 Sevilla, Spain
e-mail: galfer@us.es
M. L. Martínez et al. (eds.), Restoration of Coastal Dunes, Springer Series
on Environmental Management, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-33445-0_1,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
1