Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
8th International Conference on the Mediterranean Coastal Environment, Alexandria, Kanada, 13 - 17 Kasım 2007, ss.1355-1362
Patara or Esen Delta Beach is situated between the Towns of Mugla and Antalya, southwest of Turkey and it is one of the longest and best known beaches not only of Turkey but also of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is about 15 km long and is built up by a combination of physical processes, the fluvial and terrigenous input of the River Esen (also known as River Xanthos) and the alongshore wave and current regimes of the sea. This study is supported by the Foundation for Scientific Research Projects of the Ankara University (Project: 20050745035). To investigate the depositional sedimentary characteristics and the controlling factors along the modern Patara Beach, in 2005, 26 shoreline and 21 backshore surficial (topmost 5 cm) sediment samples were taken and subjected to detailed grain size analysis according to petrographic procedures as described in Folk (1980) whereby sieving through screens were applied for grain size fractions; for pebble (> 4 mm), granule (4-2 mm), very coarse sand (2-1 mm), coarse sand (1-0,5 mm), medium sand (0,5-0,25 mm), fine sand (0,25-0,125 mm) and very fine sand (0,125-0,063 mm). It is found that, with a few exceptions, fine sand constitute the dominant grain size fraction in the northwestern part of the beach. Here, sediments contained 58 to 95 % fine sand and 3 to 42 % medium sand. Other fractions contained below 10 % of the bulk sediment. In the central (at or near the river mouth) and southeastern part sediments are dominated by medium sand (41 to 86 % of bulk sediment). From northwest to southwest, fine sand fraction tends to remain nearly the same in the farther northwest and decrease towards the central part where amounts of fine sand are lower but nearly constant. Fine sand fractions show another increasing tendency in the southeast. In many cases, shoreline sediments are slightly more coarser-grained than the backshore sediments. Changing grain size compositions of the Patara Beach can be explained by the varying conditions of terrigenous input from the Esen River and its tributaries, type and intensity of alongshore currents and the changes in coastal morphologies.