Open AccessMorphology and sediments of the beach and shelf of the Bahía San Lucas, Baja California Sur, México.
Author(s) -
José Octavio Navarro Lozano,
Enrique Hiparco Nava Sánchez,
Lucio Godínez Orta,
Janette Magalli Murillo Jiménez
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
cicimar oceánides
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2448-9123
pISSN - 1870-0713
DOI - 10.37543/oceanides.v24i1.49
Subject(s) - bay , geology , canyon , bathymetry , submarine canyon , oceanography , seafloor spreading , sedimentology , shoal , submarine pipeline , geomorphology , seabed , peninsula , sediment , geography , archaeology
Bahía San Lucas is located at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, thus it receives high energy waves from the Pacific Ocean. The morphology of the coastline and marine bottom of the bay was interpreted based on a bathymetric survey and beach profiles, while the characteristics of the sediments were obtained through a textural analysis. Both, morphology and sedimentology allowed us to know the relationship between landforms and the sedimentological behavior. The geometry and orientation of the limiting points of the bay and the temporary presence of the fan-delta El Salto in the central portion, control the processes of wave refraction and diffraction. Thus, the coastline of the bay can be divided into two areas,where the wave energy processes and the transporting agent are different from each other and determine the morphology and sediment distribution of the beach. Seafloor topography of the bay is dominated by the presence of the San Lucas submarine canyon, whose head is just at the foot of the beach, in the innermost area of the bay. This canyon controls the development of the peninsular shelf, which is only 1.5 km wide witha maximum depth of 50m. This shallow depth of the shelf, which allows the waves interact with seabed, and the presence of the submarine canyon are the responsible for the distribution of sediments in the seabed of the bay.