MORPHOLOGIC BEHAVIOUR OF BALNEÁRIO CAMBORIÚ BEACH, SANTA-CATARINA - BRAZIL: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Abstract

The beach of Balneário Camboriú (Southern Brazil) has begun to attract large numbers of national and international tourists since 1960. Due to the intense urbanisation, two environmental problems were recognised: pollution of the water and changes in morphologic behaviour of the beach dueto the removei of the coastal dunes. In the management of the coastal zone, it is important to understand this morphological behaviour. Therefore, a monitoring study of the Balneário Camboriú beach was carried out between January 1994 and February 1996, with the objective of analysing the morphologic behaviour of the beach and identifying the controlling variables. The method of analysis consisted of computation of morphological variables, such as beach volume, width, slope and form, and correlating these variables with the wind-direction and -speed. The method has been applied on a data set of 200 profiles. The data set consisted of 8 profiles per survey along portions of about 5 km length. The interval between successive surveys fluctuated between two weeks and one month. Application of the method on the data set revealed that the subaerial volume changes do show a temporal cyclic behaviour on a time-scale of months, with periods of erosion and deposition. These periods can be correlated to the 'periods of storm' and 'periods of fair weather'. Due to the parabolic form of the bay, a longshore variation in beach dynamics can be observed, with higher dynamics in the Northern part of the bay and lower dynamics in the Southern part. No clear long-term trends of subaerial volume have been observed.