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THE WORLDS'S COASTS: ONLINE - Puerto Rico
West Coast
The west coast of Puerto Rico has the termination of structural mountain ridges at the shoreline and the broad alluvial river valley plains of the Culebrinas, Añasco, and Guanajibo rivers. The ridges form rocky coastline, and the shorelines of the alluvial valleys are sand beaches. The insular shelf is very narrow from Aguadilla to Mayagüez. Most of this coastline receives refracted waves from north Atlantic storm activity.South of Mayagüez, the shelf is relatively broad and reefs and shoals with depths of less than 10 meters extend 20 km offshore. The same pattern of ridge with rocky shoreline and valley with sand beach is present to form the shoreline, but there are also areas of mangrove coastline and fringing reef coast because of the protection offered by the wider shelf and irregular shoal reef bathymetry. This part of the west coast is protected from the refracted storms and it has a much lower wave regime.
4. The shoreline of the northwest corner of the island is formed by cliffs of Tertiary limestone. The surface has extensive karst morphology.
5. Crashboat beach lies in a small indentation in the limestone occupied by a quebrada (dry creek bed) that breaches the cliff.
6. At Aguadilla, most of the buildings are sited almost at the water's edge.
7. The jetty on the north side of Caño (bayou) Madre Vieja was emplaced to enlarge the public beach. Past the south jetty, the beach has exposed. beachrock . Beachrock is more common on the north coast, but beachrock does occur on the other coasts.
8. The Río (river) Culebrinas follows an alluvial valley cut into the limestone platform.
9. Boat ramps have turned into jetties and houses are seawalls at Parque (park) Colon in Aguada.
10. Beach erosion and cliff retreat were threatening a house at Pico Piedras. After an extensive emplacement of boulders, the entire cliff line has new houses.
11. Short beaches with abundant visible sand are characteristic of the west coast. The sands generally end at about three meters water depth. This beach at the Punta (point) Jiguero Lighthouse is typical.
12. A jetty/groin built as part of a marina development has affected the public beach at Rincon. Riprap and concrete walls have been built in front of the beach. West of this location, jetties of engineered riprap were emplaced to hold open an arroyo. These have only lead to a seaward movement of the beach.
13. The cliff in front of houses southeast of the jetties have been stabilized with boulders. These have been progressively added downdrift as each emplacement caused erosion. The beach at Corcega (southeast from this beach) has not been affected.
14. At Punta (point) Cadena house foundations built on the beach form a seawall.
15. Añasco public beach is part of a longshore transport system that transports sand from Rincon to Mayagüez, bypassing rocky zones between individual beaches. The lower limit of sand in Añasco and Mayagüez bays is three meters; below that the offshore sediments are mud.
16. The Río Añasco is the largest on the west coast. It has a salt wedge with long duration that is not removed by tidal action, but requires heavy flooding to flush.
17. Playa (beach) Maní is part of a single beach extending from Punta Cadena to the seawall at Mayagüez
18. The Mayagüez dock facilities are on the north side of the Yaguez submarine canyon. This is the end of the Añasco-Mayagüez beach system which has a sand composition of biogenic carbonate grains, quartz-feldspar and igneous rock fragments in almost equal proportions. To the south, Playa Mayagüez is dominantly igneous rock fragments.
19. A rocky (volcanic) point separates Mayaguez beach from the carbonate beaches to the south.
20. Punta Arenas has a short carbonate sand beach. Laguna (lagoon) Joyuda has an infusion of seawater from one inlet.
21. The coastline between Joyuda and Puerto (port) Real is mangrove. La Mela is a small carbonate sand beach in the mangrove south of the bay entrance.
22. Buyé is a rocky point formed by serpenite outcrops. The coast is a fringing coral reef.
23. Bahía (bay) Boqueron has a single beach. filling the eastern curve of the bay. This has now been split into two parts by a new marina inlet and jetties.
24. The Combate town beach and public beach are interrupted by several structures that block longshore sand transport. The major source of sand for the beach is offshore carbonate sands.
25. Punta Aguila separates Combate beach from a wide beach on the west side of the Cabo Rojo Tombolo. This is a low lying coast with extensive commercial salt ponds.
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