Analysis of the relationship between coastal development and the alteration of beach shorelines: a retrospective view based on spatial indicators

The construction of port infrastructures in urbanized coastal territories causes a great impact in the short and long term. The analysis of this impact is a very complex field due to the high number of variables involved. The criteria for analyzing these phenomena are usually based on the characteristics of the infrastructure to be built, but in the case of highly urbanized areas, there are other variables that are not normally taken into account. With the aim of giving an alternative approach to traditional analysis methods and relating the maximum number of possible variables, our study is given a multiparametric and retrospective approach based on GIS indicators. For this, the coastal area of the southeast of Spain is analyzed with the cartographic information that we have from the last 50 years. The changes suffered in the coastline caused by the construction of ports are analyzed in two dimensions and the statistical correlation of the different variables studied and the impact suffered on the coast are studied, such as the formation of tombolos and hemitombolos or salients, as well as coastal regression, even generation of sludge due to imbalances in sedimentary dynamics. The results can be used to enrich and improve the traditional analysis models for singular cases such as those studied