<BACK> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 <NEXT>
THE WORLDS'S COASTS: ONLINE - Puerto Rico
North Coast 2
The north coast from Arecibo to Aguadilla is a series of rocky cliffs with sand beaches and dunes between them. The prominent features are the high hills in the interior and high cliffs along the coast. Small alluvial valleys with beachs are present, but are less than a kilometer in width.
91. Laguna Tortuguero is a freshwater lake lying behind a beach and narrow strip of land.
92. Marchiquita is a lunate bay formed behind a breach in the eolianite. The inner beach is rimmed with beachrock. With storm conditions, waves break over the eolianite and build a strong seaward flow.
93. Boquillo - small tombolos are formed behind the offshore eolianites. The lunate bays are beach sands behind beachrock.
94. At Manati the coastal plain is at its widest, but eolianites and Tertiary limestone outcrops form hills. The tan carbonate sands are replaced with black sand beaches. The longshore drift is to the west (Morelock, et al. 1985) and the black sands are in turn replaced westward with light colored carbonates.
95. Palmas Altas has beach and beachrock shoreline.
96. Punta las Tunas has a series of small lunate bays between small eolianite tombolos. The shoreline is beach plain, beachrock and eolianite. The sands of the backbeach are blown lanward into incipient dunes.
97. The port at Arecibo extends west from Punta Morrillos. Just south of the port, jetties have been placed on the old river channel (1980) to keep a channel for the yacht club. The coastal part of Arecibo is protected by a seawall.
98. West of Arecibo large vegetated sand dunes lie behind the beach and beachrock shoreline.
99. At Hatillo, storms have eroded the shoreline to leave a massive beachrock "breakwater" protecting the shoreline.
100. Between Hatillo and Camuy the coastal plain narrows and limestone hills are close to the shore. The Río Camuy supplies sand to the beach.
101. The dunes near Punta Peñon are vegetated, but not as stabilized as the Arecibo dunes. The beach was sand into the surf zone until 1999 when storm waves exposed the beachrock. Frequent winter storms overwash the dune carrying gravels into the dune environment.The shoreline is limestone from Camuy to Isabela with beaches and dunes between rocky shorelines. The beaches are composed of calcium carbonate and mixed sediments. The Río Grande de Camuy has a low sediment discharge which does not contribute significantly to the alluvial deposit system. Dune deposits are extensive west of Arecibo but sand extraction has reduced or eliminated the dune deposits.
102. At las Cruces, the beach alternates with beachrock. Offshore eolianites offer some protection to the beach
103. Bellaca is an arroyo cut into the limestone cliffs of the north coast. A small beach at the mouth of the arroyo has a large biogenic component in the sands.
104. Limestone cliffs form much of the shoreline west of Camuy. Small quebradas may develop pocket beaches at their discharge.
105. The valley cut by the Río Guajataca is only slightly larger. The beach is wide and isolated. Karst erosion in the coastal cliffs is part of a coastal retreat.
106. A massive sand extraction in 1974 turned this beach into a beachrock shoreline.
107. There is a wide beach at Isabela.
108. The beach at San Jacinto is a high surf area. To the east, past an eolianite outcrop is a highly reflective beach.
109. Sand extraction has removed most of the dunes west of San Jacinto. Extraction has removed the sand below ground water level.
110. The shoreline at Punta Borinquin is Tertiary limestone. The karst surface was filled and leveled to build the airport.
<BACK> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 <NEXT>