The Bahía Blanca Estuary: an integrated overview of its geomorphology and dynamics

PICCOLO, M.C.; PERILLO, G.M.E.; MELO, WALTER D

Perspectives on integrated coastal zone management in South America

IST Press

Lugar: Lisboa; Año: 2008; p. 221 - 231

Estuarine dynamics are dependent on the geomorphology, freshwater input, tides and meteorologicalconditions predominant in the system (Perillo 1995a,b). Based on the geomorphologicalfeatures, tidal propagation into the estuary is strongly modified and can producevariations of the tidal range along the channel and in the resulting tidal currents and residualtransport of salt, sediment, nutrients and contaminants. The large intertidal areas of theBah´ıa Blanca Estuary (Figure 1) play a major role on the physical processes that are observedin this environment. On the other hand, these same morphological features make the standardmeasurement methodologies inadequate to control the whole system (Perillo and Piccolo1998). The objective of this chapter is to provide a general and integrated description of thegeomorphology and the physical oceanography of the Bah´ıa Blanca Estuary as a basis forunderstanding the biogeochemical and modelling efforts presented in other chapters of thisbook. It is based on previous reviews by Perillo and Piccolo (1999), Perillo et al. (2000, 2004),Cuadrado et al. (2004) and on data gathered since then.