Banca de DEFESA: VANDETANIA XAVIER NASCIMENTO

COASTAL DYNAMICS OF URBAN BEACHES - AREIA PRETA, PRAIA DO MEIO AND PRAIA DO FORTE IN NATAL/RN, BRAZIL

Coastal zone; Geosystem; Sedimentological analysis, beach hydrodynamics.

Coastal zones are ecologically vulnerable and fragile areas (MUEHER 1996). These spatialities have drawn attention from society that has made disordered use due to economic opportunities, fishing, oil and tourism, activities developed under a capitalist perspective, which often does not conserve the natural environment. The study area analyzed comprises the beaches of Areia Preta, Praia do Meio and Praia do Forte located in Natal/RN. The research consists of monitoring the beach strip to obtain quantitative and qualitative data in order to understand the dynamics of the beaches. This research is based on the geosystemic theory which allows an integrated interpretation of the landscape through the spatial scale of analysis of the geotope (between 1:50,000 and 1:15,000), defined by the physiognomy of the geosystem (BERTRAND 1972). The methodological procedures used were: bibliographic survey, fieldwork in the months of February, June and October 2022 and February 2023, environmental characterization, topographic survey, sediment collection, hydrodynamic data collection and sedimentological analysis. The results obtained were also correlated with data from monitoring carried out in the area in 2011. In the work, we found different levels of erosion on the three beaches. This may be related to the construction of spikes on Areia Preta beach, as these may be retaining sediments and thus reducing the erosion process in the vicinity. In contrast, greater erosion was observed on the beaches of Meio and Forte, confirming that the natural transport of sediments carried out by coastal drift in the south-north direction is being impaired by the construction of these spikes. This research is configured as a set of information that can assist managers, public authorities and society, on decision making focused on coastal monitoring, whose objective is to mitigate future and extreme socio-environmental risks to the beach environment.