CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Mar del Plata Harbor is an important center for the fishery industry in Argentina, and it has become an attractive sitefor international tourism because of the recent construction of a cruiser ship terminal. However, further development ofthis port halted several years ago because of the recurrent sedimentation problems in the access channel and basins. Thissite is characterized by advancement of the shoreline south of the harbor and a sandbank that develops across the accesschannel, while downdrift erosion and the associated shoreline retreat are due to partial blockage of the sedimenttransport caused by the harbor breakwaters. The mechanisms responsible for these sedimentation and erosion processesare examined using a coastal area morphological modeling system, MIKE 21/3 Coupled Model Flexible Mesh, developedby DHI. The morphological model was calibrated and validated against measured bathymetric changes. The model wasthen applied to a medium-term simulation with particular interest in the assessment of the effectiveness of reestablishingthe design depth of the access channel through dredging. This morphological modeling allowed enhancedunderstanding of the main hydrodynamic and sedimentological processes occurring around the harbor entrance, as wellas obtainment of information potentially useful for maintenance dredging. It was determined for the presenthydrosedimentological conditions that the sandbank moves toward the access channel with high sedimentation rate.This means the navigation channel requires regular maintenance dredging or the construction of additional sedimentretention interventions such as sediment traps, extension of the breakwater(s), etc. The efficiency of any interventionfrom the point of view of reducing sediment deposition at the harbor access should be verified before its implementation.In all cases, the northward transport would