Coastal management risk analysis of an embayed beach in Majorca island
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Coastal management risk analysis of an embayed beach in Majorca island Tiago Abreu1,2 · Benjamín Parreño‑Mas3 · José Pinto‑Faria1 Received: 28 April 2020 / Accepted: 12 August 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Coastal erosion affects many coastlines around the world. This is a serious problem for the Balearic Islands, located at the western Mediterranean Sea, since the economy of the region largely relies on tourist activities along the sandy coastline. Therefore, coastal management strategies are required, particularly, in anthropized coasts as it is the case of Cala Millor beach (north-eastern Mallorca). A risk analysis for this micro-tidal sandy beach is performed in this paper. It is recognized that the beach suffers a persistent loss of sediments since its natural balance was changed due to anthropic activities that took place in that Spanish coast in the 1960s. Some solutions can be adopted to solve this problem, but it is important to be aware that, close to the shore, the seabed is covered by a native vegetation known as Posidonia Oceanica. This seagrass meadow plays an important role in this coastal system, being responsible by the lamination of the waves through energy dissipation, which are inextricably linked to coastal morphology. Therefore, any solution needs to address local specificities, and its consequent potential impact must be incorporated into the coastal risk management process. This study analyzes the failure modes identified according to the failure modes and effects analysis/ failure mode, effects and criticality analysis, proposing a set of recommendations, in order to mitigate the occurrence of failure modes and to minimize risks. Keywords Coastal management · Environmental impacts · Morphodynamics · Risk analysis · Urban beach
1 Introduction Coastal erosion is one of the main problems of coastlines around the world. Many parameters can be associated to coastline retreat (e.g., maritime climate, sediment transport, sea level rise, etc.), but it is unclear to what extent these factors influence coastal erosion [1, 2]. Particularly, in densely populated coastal regions with high urban development, besides important environmental impacts, there is an increasing socio-economic concern related to erosive processes because they affect population, nearshore infrastructures and assets. This is the case for
many Mediterranean regions, whose economies, largely rely on tourist activities along the sandy coastline [3]. In this paper, an anthropized micro-tidal sandy beach located in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean Sea) is analyzed. Cala Millor beach (north-eastern Mallorca) is a typical “sun and sand” tourist destination in urban environments of the Mediterranean region, characterized by an elevated seasonal turnover. However, the beach suffers a persistent loss of sediments since its natural balance was changed due to anthropic activities that took place in that Spanish coast in the 1960s, leading to the disruption of the natural mechanisms of protection ag
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