Lagoon-barrier system response to recent climate conditions and sea level rise, Mozambique, Africa

Aeolian dynamics of transgressive dunefields on the southern Mozambique coast, Africa

“…A statistical analysis was carried out using the MATLAB ® package to obtain monthly and annual averages. The low peak average temperature is related to the La Niña phenomenon in Mozambique, which is associated with above-average rains (Bié et al, 2017;Miguel et al, 2017b). The high peak average temperatures are related to dry seasons and intense El Niño phenomena in Mozambique as reported by Dixon (2016) in South Africa, Moore et al (2008), and by Billeaud et al (2009) and Sorrel et al (2012).…”

“…Transgressive dunefields have developed in the barrierlagoon system studied, resulting from persistent exposure of sand on the coastal plain to the action of winds, the mesotidal regime and relative sea-level changes that occurred during the Holocene (Armitage et al, 2006;Miguel et al, 2017b). Ramsay (1995), Cooper and Pilkey (2002), Botha et al (2003), suggest that the region's transgressive dunefield system is among the largest in Africa, and indeed the world.…”

“…In fact, the geomorphological evolution of these coastal transgressive dunefields, which have a southeast-northwest orientation, reflect a high aeolian potential to transport loose sediment in the coastal region from the Save River in the Republic of Mozambique to Saint Lucia in the Republic of South Africa (Gomes et al, 2017;Miguel et al, 2017b). In fact, the geomorphological evolution of these coastal transgressive dunefields, which have a southeast-northwest orientation, reflect a high aeolian potential to transport loose sediment in the coastal region from the Save River in the Republic of Mozambique to Saint Lucia in the Republic of South Africa (Gomes et al, 2017;Miguel et al, 2017b).…”

“…The environments leeward from the lacustrine-lagoon systems had developed paleodunes resulting from changes in the paleoenvironmental conditions, related to the last Holocene transgression (Miguel et al, 2017b). In the barrier-lagoon system and the sedimentary successions of the transgressive dunefields, different aeolian morphological features are found such as beaches, dunes (barchan, parabolic, barchanoids and coppice), inner paleodunes, lagoons and lacustrine environments.…”

“…Coastal transgressive dunefields in southeastern Africa store valuable information concerning the occurrence of climate change records during the Holocene. In fact, the geomorphological evolution of these coastal transgressive dunefields, which have a southeast-northwest orientation, reflect a high aeolian potential to transport loose sediment in the coastal region from the Save River in the Republic of Mozambique to Saint Lucia in the Republic of South Africa (Gomes et al, 2017;Miguel et al, 2017b). According to Castro et al (2017), the highest rates of dune migration occur during the dry season and the lowest in the wet or humid season.…”