Saucer blowouts in the coast dune fields of NW Spain, Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Abstract Three selected stabilized saucer blowouts in the coast of NW Spain (Iberian Peninsula) are studied under the morphological and sedimentological points of view. The morphologies of these blowouts are characterized: rim, crest, deflation bottom, right (inner and outer) and left (outer and inner) flanks, outer windward and inner lee ward flanks, inner windward and outer lee ward flanks. They are slightly elongated according to the main direction of the prevailing wind. From surficial sand samples, isolines of grain-size parameters such as centile, mean, sorting, skewness, and kurtosis, as well as the mineralogical composition (bioclastic carbonate versus siliciclastic percents) have been considered to establish specific trends. In many cases, isoline contours are adapted to the floor and the sedimentary rim, allowing to deduce the main flow of the wind that contributes to their formation and development of the complex geometry including their granulometry and composition. The average size is coarser in the outer windward and deflation bottom, and minimum in the crest; the sorting is better in the outer lee side and moderate on the bottom; the skewness shows no contrast being only extreme in the inner lee side; less sharp curves are represented on the windward and leeward flanks and crest, and are leptokurtic on the leeward side; carbonate percents are maximum on the outer lee ward side, followed by the bottom, being minimum on the inner windward side. The flank slopes are very high in the outer leeward and internal windward, and moderate in the outer windward and flat in the crest and deflation bottom. A simple model of morphodynamic and sedimentary characterization is proposed.