1. Introducing the Spanish Coast

Spain is definitely a coastal country. The Spanish coast extends along more than 9000 Km and 22 of the 50 Spanish provinces have coastal edges over the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea (Fig. 1.1). In general terms it is a low altitude coast, but is too diverse displaying different littoral environments. The beaches are the most valuable environment in economic terms by the tourism, nevertheless, dunes, rias, estuaries, deltas, fan-deltas, lagoons, rocky coasts and cliffs with different geologic and dynamic controls are distributed along the coastal extension. In the last six decades the entire coast of Spain has experienced a deep human modification and is actually under an extreme urban pressure. In this chapter, the reader will find the keys to understand the importance of the Spanish Coastal Systems which are described in the subsequent chapters of this book.