Morphodynamic classification of sandy beaches in low energetic marine environment

Morphodynamic classification of beaches has achieved widespread acceptance in both geological and geomorphological literature. In this sense, the present work classifies twelve Mediterranean low energetic beaches according to the dimensionless fall parameter (Ω) parameter in the Island of Mallorca. Propagation of 44 yr of wave data as well as a detailed sediment study allows to provide probabilities for morphodynamical beach state on an annual and seasonal basis. Consequently, beaches in Mallorca fall between three major categories which are (a) truly reflective, (b) reflective skewed to intermediate and (c) intermediate beaches. The Mallorcan beach position in the morphodynamical scheme is close related to the physiographical and geological framework. Comparison of observed values with those obtained in the analysis leads that for gross beach classification there is agreement between predicted and real state. However on a seasonal classification, mainly during summer, there is no agreement between the predicted state and the real one. As the model does not incorporate the role of summer sea breezes, beach reflective states are highlighted. Real beach configurations correspond to more energetic wave dynamic conditions and to intermediate state scenarios.     

Geological control of beach morphodynamic state

The concept of beach morphodynamic states has achieved widespread acceptance in the coastal geological literature since its inception in the mid-1980s and expansion in the 1990s. Much of the pioneering work was undertaken in Australia under a range of environmental conditions in microtidal environments and a close empirical relationship between beach 3-dimensional morphology and the Dean's parameter (H_b/W_sT) was established. Subsequently, the Relative Tidal Range parameter (H_b/TR) was extended to beaches of all tidal ranges.In this paper, observations are presented from 25 beaches around the north coast of Ireland. These beaches exist on an environmental gradient that encompasses marked tidal and wave energy variability (micro to macrotidal and low to high wave energy). Each beach was visually categorised into one of several established beach states described in the literature, on the basis of field observations. For each beach, the RTR and Dean's parameter were calculated for the immediately antecedent period and used to predict the beach state using published relationships. Observed and predicted beach states were then compared.Comparison of observed and predicted beach states showed that while beaches with observed dissipative morphology typically matched the expected criteria, most other beach states did not. Lack of agreement between predicted and observed beach states has been reported elsewhere and attributed to failings in the RTR and Dean's parameter. In addition, this study identifies geological factors as important constraints on actual beach state. In the majority of beaches studied, inherited geological factors appear to be more important determinants of beach morphology than contemporary dynamics.     

Application of empirical models to bay-shaped beaches in Portugal

Three models were applied to analyse the planform of bay-shaped Portuguese beaches. They are based on empirical mathematical functions: the logarithmic spiral bay equation, the hyperbolic-tangent bay equation, and the parabolic bay equation. These models were applied to analyse the fitting to the beach planform of 42 beaches on the Portuguese Atlantic coast which was calculated through the validation against the waterline extracted from rectified aerial photographs. The logarithmic spiral model fits well the curved zone of the beaches, in particular small beaches with two headlands. Despite the good fitting of the hyperbolic-tangent model for one headland beach, its process of approximation to the solution was less intuitive than the processes of the other two models, therefore its application was more exhaustive. A comparative analysis between the logarithmic spiral model and the hyperbolic-tangent model revealed the best fit of the first. The application of the parabolic model allowed to conclude that despite the majority of the beaches analysed being in dynamic equilibrium condition due to the high energy wave regime of the Portuguese Atlantic coast, their planform was very close to the planform in static equilibrium condition due to the high dynamics of the coastal environment.     

黄河三角洲潮滩剖面特征

利用验潮、潮滩水准测量、沉积物分析和遥感资料,分析了黄河三角洲不同岸段潮滩的特征。水准测量表明,侵蚀潮滩剖面形态为下凹,而淤积潮滩则上凸,由高潮线至低潮线,潮滩沉积物均变粗,这种变粗趋势在北部侵蚀岸段和河口侧缘明显,在河口南侧稳定海岸则不明显。潮滩沉积物含水量为12.2%~32.2%,平均为21%,海滩表层沉积物不排水剪切强度在0.1~0.35 kg/cm2之间。受局限岸滩的平面形态和剖面形态受到周围大坝地形影响,具有和砂质海滩类似的形态,显示波浪对该潮滩的作用强烈,根据剖面测量结果与遥感图像,发现河口北侧有一个小的冲积扇。     

台风"艾利"对福建沙质海滩影响过程研究

通过对福建沙质海滩地形地貌现场调查,对比分析0418号台风“艾利”登陆福建前后各沙滩剖面的蚀淤变化,探讨了福建沙滩对台风“艾利”响应规律。研究结果表明,2004年8月底台风“艾利”过境期间,福建沿海砂质海岸显出了较强烈的地貌响应。沙滩剖面地形变化,冲淤相间,以冲蚀为主;后滨沙丘蚀退、滩肩蚀低、岸线向陆迁移是地貌响应的主要特征;沙滩沉积物的总收支趋于亏损。不同海岸类型的沙滩剖面对台风“艾利”的响应特征不同。岬湾型沙滩剖面地貌响应以前滨滩面侵蚀为主要特征。夷直型的长乐江田下沙剖面,对“艾利”台风的主要地貌响应特征为后滨沙丘、高潮带侵蚀,岸线后退超过16m,出现高度近1 m的直立侵蚀陡坎。沙坝-泻湖型沙滩剖面冲淤变化的主要特征是中潮带形成次一级沙坝。各沙滩的地貌风暴效应有自北往南依次减弱的趋势。     

Study on headland-bay sandy coast stability in South China coasts

Headland-bay beach equilibrium planform has been a crucial problem abroad to long-term sandy beach evolution and stabilization,extensively applied to forecast long-term coastal erosion evolvement and the influences of coastal engineering as well as long-term coastal management and protection.However,little concern focuses on this in China.The parabolic relationship is the most widely used empirical relationship for determining the static equilibrium shape of headland-bay beaches.This paper utilizes the relation to predict and classify 31 headland-bay beaches and concludes that these bays cannot achieve the ultimate static equilibrium planform in South China.The empirical bay equation can morphologically estimate beach stabilization state,but it is just a referential predictable means and is difficult to evaluate headland-bay shoreline movements in years and decades.By using Digital Shoreline Analysis System suggested by USGS,the rates of shoreline recession and accretion of these different headland-bay beaches are quantitatively calculated from 1990 to 2000.The conclusions of this paper include that (a) most of these 31 bays maintain relatively stable and the rates of erosion and accretion are relatively large with the impact of man-made constructions on estuarine within these bays from 1990 to 2000;(b) two bays,Haimen Bay and Hailingshan Bay,originally in the quasi-static equilibrium planform determined by the parabolic bay shape equation,have been unstable by the influence of coastal engineering;and (c) these 31 bays have different recession and accretion characters occurring in some bays and some segments.On the one hand,some bays totally exhibit accretion,but some bays show erosion on the whole.Shanwei Bay,Houmen Bay,Pinghai Bay and Yazhou Bay have the similar planforms,characterized by less accretion on the sheltering segment and bigger accretion on the transitional and tangential segments.On the other hand,different segments of some bays have two dissimilar evolvement characters.Dacheng Bay,Shenquan Bay,Hudong Bay,Wukan Bay,Fengjia Bay,Wuchang Bay,Lingshui Bay and Tufu Bay produce accretion on the tangential segment,erosion on the transitional segment and accretion on the sheltering segment.However,Guang’ao Bay,Haimen Bay,Jinghai Bay,Sanya Bay(a),Dajiao Bay,Hailingshan Bay,Hebei Bay,Fuhu Bay,Shuidong Bay,Wangcun Bay and Bomao Bay generate erosion on the tangential part,accretion on the transitional part and accretion on the sheltering part.It seems to imply some relations between headland-bay beach evolvement and controls on headland-bay beaches,which may possibly to classify headland-bay beach types and should be further studied.     

台风季节朱家尖岛砂、砾质岬湾海滩的不同沉积地貌动态变化

岬湾砂、砾质海岸是海岛、海岸带重要的旅游资源, 具有较高的社会经济和生态价值, 长期以来备受关注。本文以浙江朱家尖岛东岸的5个代表性岬湾海滩为例, 基于2019年台风季节早期、中期及晚期测量获得的海滩地形和沉积物数据, 结合海滩近岸的水动力数据, 分析了砂质海滩和砾石海滩这两种不同类型岬湾海滩的沉积地貌动态变化。结果表明, 朱家尖岛东岸5个海滩在台风季节出现了不同的体积变化, 大沙里、东沙、千沙、乌石塘和小乌石塘海滩的单宽体积变化分别为11.93m³·m^-1、-54.41m³·m^-1、-19.75m³·m^-1、2.19m³·m^-1和-1.96m³·m^-1。砾石滩较砂质海滩更为稳定, 无人类活动干扰的砂质海滩在台风季节侵蚀更少、变化更小。台风季节大沙里、东沙、千沙、乌石塘和小乌石塘海滩表层沉积物的平均粒径分别为2.47Փ、2.24Փ、2.64Փ、-5.96Փ和-6.03Փ, 粒径粗化和离岸输运是5个海滩表层沉积物在台风季节的主要表现, 砂质海滩的沉积物粒度特征变化比砾石海滩要大。沉积物粒径、台风强度及台风期间的主要波向与海滩走向之间的关系、海岸工程这3种因素都可能对海滩在台风季节的沉积地貌动态变化产生影响。本文研究结果可为台风季节的海滩管理提供参考。     

Mapping beach morphodynamics remotely: A novel application tested on South African sandy shores

Sandy beaches have been identified as threatened ecosystems but despite the need to conserve them, they have been generally overlooked. Systematic conservation planning (SCP) has emerged as an efficient method of selecting areas for conservation priority. However, SCP analyses require digital shapefiles of habitat and species diversity. Mapping these attributes for beaches from field data can take years and requires exhaustive resources. This study thus sought to derive a methodology to classify and map beach morphodynamic types from satellite imagery. Since beach morphodynamics is a strong predictor of macrofauna diversity, they could be considered a good surrogate for mapping beach biodiversity. A dataset was generated for 45 microtidal beaches (of known morphodynamic type) by measuring or coding for several physical characteristics from imagery acquired from Google Earth. Conditional inference trees revealed beach width to be the only factor that significantly predicted beach morphodynamic type, giving four categories: dissipative, dissipative-intermediate, intermediate and reflective. The derived model was tested by using it to predict the morphodynamic type of 28 other beaches of known classification. Model performance was good (75% prediction accuracy) but misclassifications occurred at the three breaks between the four categories. For beaches around these breaks, consideration of surf zone characteristics in addition to beach width ameliorated the misclassifications. The final methodology yielded a 93% prediction accuracy of beach morphodynamic type. Overlaying other considerations on this classification scheme could provide additional value to the layer, such that it also describes species’ spatial patterns. These could include: biogeographic regions, estuarine versus sandy beaches and short versus long beaches. The classification scheme was applied to the South African shoreline as a case study. The distribution of the beach morphodynamic types was partly influenced by geography. Most of the long, dissipative beaches are found along the west coast of the country, the south coast beaches are mostly dissipative-intermediate, and the east coast beaches range from short, estuarine pocket and embayed beaches in the former Transkei (south east), to longer intermediate and reflective beaches in KwaZulu-Natal (in the north east). Once combined with the three biogeographic regions, and distinguishing between estuarine and sandy shores, the South African coast comprised 24 different beach types. Representing shorelines in this form opens up potential for numerous spatial analyses that can not only further our understanding of sandy beach ecology at large spatial scales but also aid in deriving conservation strategies for this threatened ecosystem.     

Morphodynamics of structurally controlled headland-bay beaches in southeastern Brazil: A review

This paper presents a comprehensive review on the interaction between hydrodynamic processes, beach morphology and sedimentology at large scale coastal behaviour along the coastline of Santa Catarina, between Laguna and São Francisco Island, a microtidal east coast swell environment with headland and bay geomorphologies. The parabolic bay shape equation has proven to be a convenient and practical tool for studying the stability of the headland-bay beaches, tombolos, and salients in Santa Catarina. The beaches exhibit different patterns of sediment removal as a function of the degree of beach curvature. In highly curved beaches, there is a well-developed shadow zone and a range of morphodynamic conditions, from a sheltered low-energy beach adjacent to the downdrift headland to a high-energy exposed beach on the straight end of the headland-bay beach. The less curved beaches instead, tend to show more uniform behaviour since they are directly exposed to incident waves. There is no obvious relationship between average wave height and mean grain size, showing the importance of sediment source to characterize the sedimentary distribution patterns in the study area. The analysis of beaches showed that beach morphodynamics and sequence profiles for a bay–headland coast in a microtidal east coast environment is a function of geological inheritance (e.g., distance between headlands and orientation, nearshore and inner shelf morphology, coastal plain morphology, and sediment source), and hydrodynamic factors (wave conditions, oceanic wave exposure and relative tidal range).     

Managing erosion-induced problems in NW Mediterranean urban beaches

The applicability of recommendations of the Eurosion project to define a policy to manage coastal erosion has been tested at the “beach” scale in the Mediterranean coast. Thus, a favourable sediment status has been defined for these beaches taking into account their main functions: recreation and protection. Because they act at two different seasons, this status needs to be seasonally defined. For the protection function, the favourable sediment status depends on the level of safety fixed by the manager taking into account the importance of existing infrastructures and, for recreation it depends on the use density of the beach. The concept has been formalized for beach management within a framework where benchmarking plays a crucial role to determine the need of intervention. This has been illustrated for open cell beaches where one of its boundaries can permit variations in the sediment budget and for pocket beaches that act as closed sediment cells.     

淤泥质海床相邻的岬湾沙滩剖面特征研究

通过对浙江沿海岬角海湾沙滩多处典型剖面的调查,结果表明沙滩与淤泥质海床存在较明显的沙泥分界线,滩面物质自北至南,粒径差别不大,中值粒径在0.15~0.25mm之间,滩面基本呈现单一坡度,坡度为1∶15~1∶30,沙滩坡度与波浪动力相关,沙滩前沿波浪动力强,滩面较缓,反之滩面较陡。沙滩退化表现为滩面的截断、粗化和泥化,滩面截断导致沙滩面积减少,中、细沙供给不足;细沙采挖或局部工程导致的沿岸输沙动力条件的改变会使滩面物质变粗;岬湾的水动力条件减弱,易使沙泥分界线抬升,局部泥化;过度挖沙会导致沙滩消失成为泥滩。     

日照海岸带沙滩侵蚀现状及沉积物粒度特征分析

通过对日照市海岸带2个重点沙滩的现场调查和沉积物粒度计算,综合分析了沙滩的侵蚀现状和粒度参数特征。海滨国家森林公园沙滩北部和南部处于侵蚀状态,中部为缓慢淤积状态;万平口海水浴场沙滩北部、中部总体呈侵蚀趋势,南部为淤积状态。海滨国家森林公园沙滩的平均粒径总体要小于万平口海水浴场沙滩,这与两沙滩的坡度不同有关,平均粒径从滩肩到低潮线逐渐变小。海滨国家森林公园沙滩的分选性要好于万平口海水浴场沙滩,分选系数具有由陆向海、由北向南逐渐变小的趋势。沙滩的滩肩和滩面处频率曲线主要为双峰,峰态平坦,物质来源复杂,低潮线处频率曲线主要为单峰,峰态尖锐,物质来源单一。     

海南万宁岬湾海岸海滩稳定性研究

岬湾海岸海滩的稳定性及其演变是砂质海岸研究的重要内容。基于多期遥感影像、海滩沉积物粒度分布,并采用岬湾海滩平衡形态模型(MEPBAY),分析探讨了海南岛东部万宁4个典型岬湾海岸海滩的稳定性及其模型的应用。研究表明,除东澳湾凸角处于不稳定状态,其余海岸处于静态或准静态平衡状态;岬湾海滩沉积物粒度在遮蔽段和开敞段有明显的差异,相邻海滩之间没有明显的泥沙交换,每个岬湾海滩都是相对独立的地貌单元;模型中上岬角控制点选取应考虑岛礁及水下礁坪;抛物线模型可以拓展应用于有离岸岛情况下的海湾。研究成果可为岬湾海滩的稳定性评估和管理提供科学依据。     

华南水东湾波控、中等潮差岬湾海滩地形动力分类

海滩地形动力分类在国外的海岸地貌研究中已经被广泛接受。本文使用了华南粤西水东湾切线带、过渡带和遮蔽带海滩连续16个月32次大潮期间同步获取的波浪、潮汐、泥沙和海滩地形数据,分别按照无量纲沉降参数、相对潮差参数和无量纲海湾尺度参数对这一岬湾海滩不同岸段的海滩类型进行了研究,研究发现：（1）水东湾切线带海滩的主要状态为有裂流的低潮台地状态和沙坝型海滩状态,过渡带海滩主要状态是低潮沙坝/裂流海滩和沙坝消散型状态,遮蔽带海滩主要状态是有或无沙坝的消散型状态;（2）海湾不同岸段海滩状态的顺序变化与差异体现了岬湾海滩状态的时空变化性,与现场观测的海滩地形的变化基本一致,说明了对波控中到强潮海滩进行研究时,需要考虑潮汐的影响。同时,本文主要给出了海滩状态研究的一个框架体系,由于海滩不同的状态伴随不同的侵蚀模式,要求我国今后需加强在这一方面研究,以进一步丰富我国海滩地形演变、海滩地形动力过程和海滩防侵蚀的理论基础。     

华南砂质海滩的动力地貌分析

为探讨华南砂质海滩的动力地貌学特征,对不同地理岸段不同地貌形态的8 个沙滩剖面于冬、夏季进行现场重复调查和室内分析工作.据此,通过对华南海岸带地质构造、地貌和现代海岸动力环境地域变化的分析,将华南沿海砂质海岸划分为岬湾岸、沙坝-潟湖岸和夷直岸三种基本海岸地貌类型,并且从滩面倾向、海岸动力环境影响、季节冲淤变化趋势和滩面沉积物粒径、坡度的动力响应等方面探讨砂质海滩的动力地貌,得出其受制于多种环境因素的影响,其中地质构造背景和海平面变化为大尺度的砂质海岸地貌的发育奠定了基础,而全新世海侵海平面相对稳定后,海岸动力条件的塑造起着决定性的影响,浪潮作用指数是其中重要的影响指标.     

Carbonate Sediment Deposits on the Reef Front Around Oahu, Hawaii

Large sediment deposits on the reef front around Oahu are a possible resource for replenishing eroded beaches. High-resolution subbottom profiles clearly depict the deposits in three study areas: Kailua Bay off the windward coast, Makua to Kahe Point off the leeward coast, and Camp Erdman to Waimea off the north coast. Most of the sediment is in water depths between 20 and 100 m, resting on submerged shelves created during lowstands of sea level. The mapped deposits have a volume of about 4 × 10⁸ m³ in water depths less than 100 m, being thickest off the mouth of channels carved into the modern insular shelf, from which most of the sediment issues. Vibracore samples contain various amounts of sediment of similar size to the sand on Oahu beaches, with the most compatible prospects located off Makaha, Haleiwa, and Camp Erdman, and the least compatible ones located in Kailua Bay. Laboratory tests show a positive correlation of abrasion with Halimeda content: samples from Kailua Bay suffered high amounts of attrition, but others were comparable to tested beach samples. The common gray color of the offshore sediment, aesthetically undesirable for sand on popular tourist beaches, was diminished in the laboratory by soaking in heated hydrogen peroxide.     

Carbonate Sediment Deposits on the Reef Front Around Oahu,Hawaii

Large sediment deposits on the reef front around Oahu are a possible resource for replenishing eroded beaches. High-resolution subbottom profiles clearly depict the deposits in three study areas: Kailua Bay off the windward coast, Makua to Kahe Point off the leeward coast, and Camp Erdman to Waimea off the north coast. Most of the sediment is in water depths between 20 and 100?m, resting on submerged shelves created during lowstands of sea level. The mapped deposits have a volume of about 4?×?10⁸?m³ in water depths less than 100?m, being thickest off the mouth of channels carved into the modern insular shelf, from which most of the sediment issues. Vibracore samples contain various amounts of sediment of similar size to the sand on Oahu beaches, with the most compatible prospects located off Makaha, Haleiwa, and Camp Erdman, and the least compatible ones located in Kailua Bay. Laboratory tests show a positive correlation of abrasion with Halimeda content: samples from Kailua Bay suffered high amounts of attrition, but others were comparable to tested beach samples. The common gray color of the offshore sediment, aesthetically undesirable for sand on popular tourist beaches, was diminished in the laboratory by soaking in heated hydrogen peroxide.     

Role of geological inheritance in Australian beach morphodynamics

The Australian coast contains 10,685 beaches which occupy 49% of the 30,000 km coast and average 1.37 km in length. Their relatively short length is largely due to the presence of bedrock, calcarenite and laterite, which form boundaries to many of the beaches, as well as occurring as rocks, reefs and islands along and off the beaches. This geological inheritance plays a major role in Australian beach systems — determining their length and through wave refraction and attenuation influencing beach location, shape, type, morphodynamics and circulation, which in turn influence sediment transport and the backing dune and barrier systems. This paper uses a database covering every Australian beach to review the role of headlands, rocks and reefs on Australian beaches. Major effects are the short average beach length; reduction in breaker height resulting in lower energy beach types; wave refraction resulting in increased beach curvature; the presence of topographic rips on moderate and higher energy beaches and megarips during high wave conditions; and the interruption of and/or trapping of longshore sand transport leading to beach rotation.     

Sandy beach macrofaunal communities on the western coast of Portugal – Is there a steady structure under similar exposed conditions?

The structure of macrofaunal communities at two similar exposed sandy beaches on the western coast of Portugal was monitored for approximately 18 months by sampling all the beach area, from the shoreline to the base of the dunes. The beaches’ physical environment, as well as community density and composition, seasonal variations and the potential relationships between biological data and environmental parameters were studied. The two beaches had similar exposure to wave action, but differed in terms of sediment grain size, extent of the intertidal area, sediment moisture content and, especially, in the potential food availability in the form of allochthonous debris. Differences were observed with regard to the communities’ structure, namely regarding composition and relative contribution of the dominant species. Seasonality, especially temperature variations, and the interaction between seasons and the beach zones (supralittoral vs. intertidal) also had a strong influence on communities: controlling dominant species’ density and the horizontal distribution of the dominant species, and promoting a differential utilization of the beach by several resident macrofaunal animals. The present study allows the identification of key species in exposed sandy beaches of western Portugal and demonstrates that a steady community structure does not persist in the similarly exposed conditions observed, which may be mainly a response to distinct detritus subsidies, combined with differences in sediment grain size, sediment moisture content and extent of the intertidal area.     

Relationship between oil pollution and psammolittoral meiofauna density of two South African beaches

The effects of stranded oil from a tanker collision off the South African coast on the meiofauna ratio and density have been monitored over a period of 1 year on two sandy beaches. The perturbation of two beaches was judged against reference beach meiofauna density behaviour. In the undisturbed beach, oil deposited in sediment depressed harpacticoid copepod numbers, while numbers of nematodes stayed similar to those of the reference levels. Removal of surface sand in the mechanically disturbed beach had a greater influence on the density of animals than oil. Both beaches showed recovery after six months, but evidence of pollution by oil of unknown origin was found.