Littoral Dunes on Valencia Coast

The dunes development needs an excess of sediment supply, wind speed able to transport sand to backshore and low atmospheric humidity. Foredunes, dunes fields and Pleistocene fossil dunes are the most characteristics features of the Valencian coast. Fossil dunes are abundant at the southern part. They are the main supply for the Holocene dunes and formed l’Altet field that survived thanks to be just in front of the L’Altet Airport. The foredunes have been mainly destroyed by human action and only few remains still are active. Guardamar and El Saler dune fields had a quite different evolution. Guardamar evolved covering previous fossil dunes and was fixed with pine trees to avoid the sand precipitation into the town. El Saler was mainly destroyed by human impact, but one small area, completely flattened called La Punta del Perellonet, has been transformed during the last 45 years in a natural laboratory to test how dunes have been able to develop once again in a coastal area having a big problem of sediment supply scarcity.