Riesgos litorales

Resumo

During the last decades a raise in the impact of coastal hazards in the media has been experienced. This interest is related to a possible increase in the frequency of coastal extreme events, as well as to the rising population in littoral areas all around the world. Moreover, another influencing factor is the high diversity of sources for coastal hazards. On one hand, there are geological hazards which are characteristic of the continental areas (vulcanism, seismicity, river floods, etc.); on the other hand, there are hazards of marine origin which only affect coastal environments. These are controlled by marine agents such as waves, currents, tides and eustatic sea level changes. This wide range of possible events shows the complexity of processes linked to the geological dynamics of littoral areas, and hence the complexity of the associated hazards. Among all these posible sources of coastal hazard, the impact of extreme marine events is the most relevant and widespread in a short term basis, especially in low-lying areas with high levels of human development. This work presents a summary of the main coastal hazards, mainly focused in those linked to exogenous processes.