Aeolian transport on Canoa Quebrada beach, Aracati county, and Pontal do Maceió beach, Fortim County, Ceará State, Brazil

Abstract

The coastal region of Ceará State, Northeast Brazil, has been characterized mainly in relation to its dynamic agents working on the ecosystems, by means a number of research works from the viewpoints of their geology and sedimentology. The aeolian systemn in beaches of the Aracati county was mapped according to three generations of dunes in the period from January, 1998 through January, 1999. The older ones, located in areas far from the coastline, present levelled-off surfaces covered by thick soils capable of developing a shrubby vegetation. The second type of dunes remains fixed by a low vegetation where the lengthwise formations predominate. The mobile dunes, placed at the berm zone, stand for the third generation whose migration makes up a relevant tool in the transport and coastal dynamics processes. The actual mean aeolian transport, whose measurement was carried out through trapping devices for sand storage on dune fields, showed values of 0.49 kg/m/h for the dune base and 1.26 kg/m/h for the dune top.