Barra Velha Lagoon: landscape transformations and dynamics

Abstract

On the northern coast of Santa Catarina, lies the Itapocu Lagoon, 12 km long, whose mouth is located approximately in the middle of this extension, an outlet currently consolidated by breakwaters built in 2011. The southern portion of the lagoon is called Barra Velha Lagoon and is 6 km long. The name Barra Velha suggests that the Itapocu River once flowed into Barra Velha. This study, through the analysis of documents and images, sought to reconstruct the events that occurred in the past. The records analyzed allow us to trace the past history of the lagoon region and strongly indicate that the mouth of the Itapocu River changed successively, sometimes further north than the region of the current breakwaters and sometimes further south, when it flowed into the central beach area of the current city of Barra Velha. These changes are attributable to the characteristic movement of this type of river mouth. Anthropogenic interventions in the 20th and 21st centuries have added alterations to the landscape. The study of natural and anthropogenic environmental modifications that occurred in the municipality of Barra Velha in the past, and the knowledge about their resulting conformation in the present, allows for a broader understanding of environmental dynamics, from a landscape analysis perspective.