Lagoinha Beach, Paraipaba, Brazil. Lagoinha is a 15 km-long mesotidal beach, located at Paraipaba City (Ceará State, NE Brazil) and 110 km away from Fortaleza (state's capital). The Ceará coastline is affected by soft semi-arid tropical climate, with irregular precipitation. The wind is an important element in this littoral system: during March and April, a SE direction is predominant; between May to August, the ENE to N directions are predominant during the day, while E to SE are predominant during night; and from September to October, the E trade winds are common. The wave direction is hugely influenced by the wind, with an easterly predominance. The longshore drift in this sandy shore has an E-W main direction.

At Lagoinha Beach, there is the occurrence of dunes, estuarine plains, and active cliffs (no more than 4 m high), which can be seen in the photo. These cliffs are associated with the Tertiary-Quaternary Barreiras Group, a controversial geologic formation that occurs along the Brazilian coastline (from southeastern to northern littoral), and are associated with a sedimentation caused by epirogenetic uplift. At Ceara, this geologic feature is cut by intermittent secondary drainage. In the photo, it is possible to see the different colors (white, orange, yellow, ocher, and reddish brown) that compose the cliff. Also shown, is a dune field in the background and beach sediments composed of very coarse to medium sands and shell fragments. (Photograph taken 11 July 2016 by Breylla Campos Carvalho, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.)