The Earth Surface Processes Group investigates geodynamic processes at the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere interface. The group congregates researchers in coastal processes, geomorphology, engineering geology, hydrogeology, palaeontology, sedimentology, geoarcheology and remote sensing/geospatial information, aiming to develop cutting-edge research on Natural Hazards, Natural Resources and Environmental (including Climate) Change at different time scales. The team holds a robust expertise on in-situ and remote sensing monitoring methods, and modeling external geodynamic processes. Research focuses on understanding the behavior of coastal and hydrogeological systems, environmental reconstruction of active processes and morpho-sedimentary responses, with the ultimate goal of forecasting environmental responses, assessing natural hazards and impacts on natural (hydric, lithic and solar) resources. The societal relevance of the scientific themes and approaches endeavored by the team is reflected in the transfer of knowledge to national stakeholders and to the community, which is a relevant highlight of the group’s activities.

Group Leaders: Mário Cachão, Teresa Drago, and Nuno Pimentel.

Scientific Highlights 2020

The Earth Surface Processes Group (RG2) includes 11 permanent staff members and 10 research fellows. It is focused on the understanding of contemporary and past coastal processes, geomorphology, engineering geology, hydrogeology, paleontology, sedimentology, geochemistry, geoarchaeology, and the analysis of remote sensing and geospatial information. RG2 has persistently produced groundbreaking research on climate change, natural hazards and geological resources, producing relevant scientific output, namely 40 papers in international peer reviewed journals, 9 Scopus indexed chapters, 3 collaborations in Special Issues, 19 participations in national and international research projects, to which a number of reports highlighting the cooperation with industry can be added.

Coastal system dynamics

RG2 has devoted great efforts to tackling scientific challenges related to climate change. Its research scope encompasses the development of novel methodologies to study coastal vulnerability to sea-level rise, tsunami and storm–related erosion. Project LIFE DUNAS focused on the adaptation of the Porto Santo (Madeira) coastal system to extreme events resulting from climate change in collaboration with local government authorities responsible for Land Use, Planning and Management.  RG2 lead coastal erosion studies on the National Roadmap for Adaptation XXI (EEA Grant – APA), modelling future scenarios until the year 2100. The team lead the study of shoreline evolution at different timescales for mainland Portugal under project SIARL DADOS (FCT and APA). It continued to develop low-cost monitoring systems to assess coastal change and coastal hazards and lead the development of new video-monitoring techniques to assess key hydrodynamic features for port navigation purposes (Project NavSafety), and overtopping and inundation in coastal and port areas (Project To-SeAlert). CoastSnap Cascais is a citizen-science project using photogrammetry to assess sandy beaches evolution. The group has also been involved in mapping and quantifying coastal flooding areas in development countries (e.g. Guiné-Bissau and Mozambique). Members working on the sedimentology of natural hazards have innovated tsunami geoscience research by coupling onshore and offshore sedimentological records along the Gulf of Cadiz region and in the North Sea in collaboration with Scottish and Belgian institutions. RG2 continued working on the evaluation of the ecosystem impacts of sand extraction and deposition of nourished beaches under the MAR2020 (ECOEXA project, 2019-2021) Program sponsored by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. The laboratory facilities funded by the Research Infrastructures Roadmap (EMSO-PT project) became fully operational (X-ray, Camsizer, Malvern and Confocal Raman Microscope). High-resolution holistic approach to sediment accumulated during the Holocene in coastal transitional sequences, including biologic, sedimentological and organic chemistry proxies, produced unprecedentedly robust environmental and climate reconstructions of estuarine environments along the Iberian coast. Furthermore, in cooperation archaeologists, RG2 researchers produced significant insights on the understanding of human territory occupation patterns since the Mesolithic.

(Paleo)environments and Paleobiology

RG2 produced cutting-edge research on key biogroups, covering the last 200 Ma of Earth’s history. Research spans from dinosaurs to molluscs and coccolithophores, covering continental, marginal and deep-sea environments from the Jurassic onwards. New data on the phylogeny and paleobiology of sauropods was obtained, including the 3D-geometric morphometric analyses of sauropod limb skeleton and neck osteological mobility; the erection of a new Portuguese Late Jurassic theropod species, Lusovenator santosi, ranks prominently among recent accomplishments. RG2 researchers are involved in projects on the Late Cretaceous ecosystems of the South Iberian domain funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain.

Coccolithophores have been used as key proxies for investigating external forcing mechanisms controlling the North Atlantic mid-Holocene coastal upwelling regime. The recently started project CHASE explores links between their productivity and oceanographic and atmospheric processes (including Saharan dust deposition) influencing their distribution across the Atlantic Ocean. Results are expected to provide robust baseline information of modern ecological analogues for future predictions of the role of desert dust in an increasingly warmer and nutrient-depleted ocean.

Investigation of gastropod faunas produced significant advances in the understanding of the biogeographic evolution of Neogene molluscs along the eastern Atlantic coasts of Europe, culminating with the erection of a new bioprovince for the Pliocene of NW France.

In addition, special attention was given to educational and outreach activities, mainly focused on promoting Geosciences and raising awareness of the public to geodiversity, palaeontological heritage and geoconservation.

Lithic, hydric and solar resources

Research on aggregates to be used in concrete has been developed in close cooperation with companies of the construction industry. Research aiming at improving petrographic methods applied to aggregates and concrete has been carried out in collaboration with international standardization entities, namely RILEM.

Groundwater flow and mass transport numerical models were developed, improving aquifer systems conceptualization and the forecast of the behavior of the systems under exploitation and contamination stress, such as sea water intrusion in coastal aquifers, agricultural nitrates contamination and remediation, and overexploitation.

The characterization and evaluation of the hydromineral and geothermal resources on mainland Portugal and the Azores were a continuous throughout 2020. RG2 team members took part in a project, ordered by the Portuguese General Directorate of Energy and Geology (DGEG), dealing with the state of the art of the geological and technical requirements for the installation of Compressed Air Energy Storage units in Portugal.

Cliff-failure and landslide hazards and seismicity

The work developed included the application of physically and statistically based landslide susceptibility methods to the assessment of landslide risk and early warning systems creation. The effect of geological and land use mapping improvement on landslide susceptibility assessment modeling and mapping results was scrutinized. The results show that database quality has a higher impact on the quality of modeling results than the sophistication of the modeling methods used.

An innovative statistically based approach was successively applied to submarine landslide susceptibility assessment which may be useful for preliminary analysis of locations for offshore structures.

Interdisciplinary projects 

RG2 members were actively involved in interdisciplinary projects in the fields of biology, cultural heritage and drone photogrammetry, such as the JBT3D project funded by the University of Lisbon, consisting in the execution of a complete GIS 3D model for the Belém Botanical Tropical Garden (Lisbon) for science popularization and management purposes. Innovative methods for automatic identification and survey of plant species on sand dunes along the Portuguese coast were also developed under project UNITED – Unifying niches, interactions and distributions (CGL2016-78070-P). The full 3D documentation of the UNESCO classified monument Torre de Belém was carried out by means of photogrammetry and laser scanning with the determination of the probable origin of the building materials by means of a hyperspectral camera and a spectroradiometer set. Last, but not least, the calculation saving tools for deriving object geometric quantities (objects height) from drone born images have been developed.

Collaborations

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente, Portugal
Câmara Municipal de Almada, Portugal
Câmara Municipal de Cascais, Portugal
Câmara Municipal de Vila do Bispo, Portugal
Centro de Estudos Sociais, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, USA
Direção Geral do Património Cultural, Portugal
Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis, Spain
Ghent University, Belgium
Instituto Hidrográfico, Portugal
Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC), Spain
Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Portugal
Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia, Portugal
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Portugal
North Carolina State University, USA
RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Sociedade de História Natural, Portugal
United States Geological Survey
Universidad de Cantábria, Spain
Universidad de Extremadura, Spain
Universidad de Huelva, Spain
Universidad de Málaga, Spain
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain
Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Universidade Agostinho Neto, Angola
Universidade da Coruña, Spain
Universidade Eduardo Mondlande, Mozambique
Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Brazil
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Université de Sfax, Tunisia
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
University of Bremen, Germany
University of Dundee, Scotland
University of Geneva, Switzerland
University of Parma, Italy
University of Vigo, Spain
Williams College, United States