Textural characterization of beach sands from the Gulf of California, Mexico: implications for coastal processes and relief

Grain size determinations were carried out for 54 beach-sand samples from the western (n = 25) and eastern (n = 29) coasts of the Gulf of California, Mexico, in order to establish the relationship among coastal processes, relief, and grain size parameters for both areas based on grain size distribut...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Kasper-Zubillaga, JJ, Carranza-Edwards, A, Morales-De la Garza, E
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2007
País:México
Institución:UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE BAJA CALIFORNIA
Repositorio:Ciencias Marinas
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:cienciasmarinas.com.mx:article/1018
Acceso en línea:https://www.cienciasmarinas.com.mx/index.php/cmarinas/article/view/1018
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:grain size
sorting
skewness
kurtosis
beach sands
Gulf of California
Mexico
tamaño de grano
clasificación
asimetría
curtosis
arena de playa
Golfo de California
México
Descripción
Sumario:Grain size determinations were carried out for 54 beach-sand samples from the western (n = 25) and eastern (n = 29) coasts of the Gulf of California, Mexico, in order to establish the relationship among coastal processes, relief, and grain size parameters for both areas based on grain size distributions. This was done because both coastal areas are controlled by marine processes and the geomorphology of the coast, since fluvial discharges are negligible in the distribution of sands. In general, sands from the western coast are mainly coarse, moderately sorted, near-symmetrical with leptokurtic and very leptokurtic distributions. Correlations between grain-size parameters for the western coast are controlled by less selectivity in the coastal processes to concentrate fractions in a specific range of sizes, a narrow coastal plain, and compositional differences in the sands due to the heterogeneous lithology and the presence of carbonate shells. Eastern coast beach sands are medium, moderately well sorted, near-symmetrical with mesokurtic to leptokurtic distributions. Correlations between grain size parameters for the eastern coast are controlled by longshore current drifts in a northwestern direction and a wider coastal plain compared to the western coast.