Development and setting of the Alcudia Bay beach-dune system (Mallorca, Spain)

The beach-dune system of Alcudia Bay is located in the north of the island of Mallorca. The system includes both simple and compound parabolic dunes formed by N to NNE winds and is made up of two dune areas with different dynamics: 1) the northern area, where, despite the fact that the source of beach sediment is from the south, dunes are formed by northerly winds and develop a narrow and linear barrier which separates a marsh from the bay; and 2) the southern area, where complex parabolic dunes formed by north-northeasterly winds, prograde south-southwest landward extending several kilometers inland. The broad pattern of the dunefield size is limited to the southeast by a mountain range and to the west by the effects of a topographic corridor, oriented north-south, which channels the prevailing northerly wind, causing a southward dune progression and limiting the westward extension of the dunefield. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.