Physico-Chemical Features and Subsurface Nature of Coastal Dunes on Bozcaada Island, NW Turkey

Year 2015, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 1 - 15, 02.03.2015

Mustafa Avcıoğlu Ahmet Evren Erginal Muhammed Zeynel Öztürk Alper Demirci Yunus Levent Ekinci Murat Türkeş Ersin Karabacak Ali Sungur Hasan Özcan Rezzan Ekinci Gülsen Erginal

https://doi.org/10.30897/ijegeo.303171

Cited By: 1

Abstract

We studied the composition, vegetation cover, wind regime characteristics and subsurface nature of a coastal
dune field on the west coast of Bozcaada Island, NW Turkey. Performing Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) technique,
we determined that dune sands with a thickness of ~11-13 m cover the underlying Miocene
basement, as confirmed by an abrupt increase
in resistivity as from lithological boundary. The results
demonstrate that foredune terraces and ridges differ
from swales from various points of view. The foredune sands are characterized by average contents of over 82% medium to fine-sized
angular sands, especially quartz
(85%), based on X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) data, CaCO₃ (1.15%) and organic matter (0.19%). On the other hand, swales are composed on average of
59% medium
to fine sands, a mixture of
silt and clay (13%), very coarse
sands and small-size gravels (28%). In addition to the different
grain size distribution, swale sediments have conspicuously lesser amounts
of SiO₂ (78%), higher amounts
of CaCO₃ (5.6%) and organic
matter (0.8%). Wind climatology analysis showed the predominance of a northerly
(mainly NNE) near surface wind circulation over Bozcaada throughout the year with high wind speeds of maximum
7.4 m/s. Nevertheless, the existing sand transport
and
associated development
of foredune forms and blowouts in the dune
field relates considerably to the bimodal distribution of northerly winds (NNW and NNE). Although the coastal dune area is capped
by a variety of dune plants, blowout
development is highly active, in particular, on the northeast section of the dune
field.

Keywords

Dune sand, electrical resistivity, wind climatology, Bozcaada Island, NW Turkey

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