Sedimentary Variation and Volumetric Balance in Four Beaches in North Littoral of Santa Catarina State, Brazil, in a La Niña/El Niño Period

Between June 1995 and July 1997, four topographic profiles were made in different beaches of the north littoral of Santa Catarina State. Aiming to characterize the sediments, evaluate the topographic variations and quantify the volumes of sediments removed or deposited on these beaches, associating these factors to climatic changes (La Niña phenomenon). A number of twelve topographic surveys were done, with sedimentary samples on each altimetric point. The sediments of the north littoral of Santa Catarina were composed of fine well-sorted sands, with leptokurtic kurtosis values near the shoreline, passing to mesokurtic near the water line. Between June 1995 and July 1997 the shoreline was kept almost stable on the four profiles realized. Little advances occurred from October 1996. During the periods of La Niña (1995/1996) and El Niño (1996/1997) occurrence, it was noted a diminution of the volume of the sediments on the beaches, without expressive alterations in the position of the shoreline. The exceptions were the proflies Barra and Itapoá, which showed depositional characteristics, respectively in 1996 and 1997.