Rzeźba eoliczna okolic Basenu Arcachon (atlantyckie wybrzeże Francji)

Abstract

Dunes of the Arcachon Basin environs can be divided into: A – actually continental landforms: 1) old parabolic dunes, formed at the beginning of the second millennium BC, 2) chains of barchans and single barchans, age of which is not yet definitively de-termined, although they are slightly younger from the parabolic ones, and B) present-day coastal dunes, which have ori-ginated not later than in the first century AD. Both groups of dunes are the result of the Quaternary deposits blowing away by westerly winds: A – Pleistocene, today called sands of Landes, B – Holocene – maritime and beach. A specific morphological landscape element is the highest dune in Europe – the Great Dune of Pyla (Pilat), reaching a height of 108,2 m (a.s.l.). It has been developed gradually for about 3700 years and it has finally originated at the end of the 19th century from material taken out from the Arcachon Basin and abraded coast material. The average rate of this dune translocation amounts to about 1–5 m/year. Mechanical features of this dune surface material against a background of beach and maritime deposits were presented in fig. 11 and 12.