Geotechnical Characteristics of Volcanic Beach Sands with Varying Iron Contents

One of the distinguishing features of volcanic beach sand compared to typical silica sand can be found in its relatively high iron content; however, studies on the effect of iron content on the engineering properties of volcanic beach sand have been very limited until now. Consequently, this experimental investigation quantifies the effect of iron content on the engineering properties of Ulleung volcanic beach sands, including small strain stiffness, compressibility, friction angle, and cone tip resistance. Various geotechnical experiments were performed, and test results demonstrate that the small strain stiffness increases with an increase in iron content because of the increased interparticle contact stiffness. In addition, the elastic deformation of soil particles decreases with an increase in iron content because of the greater elastic modulus of iron compared to that of silica. In contrast, the effects of iron content on the intermediate strain constrained modulus and on the large strain friction angle are insignificant, and these properties are mainly determined by state variables. The relationship between the stress-normalized cone tip resistance and the state parameter of tested Ulleung sand is very similar to that on silica sands, reflecting that the effect of iron contents on the cone tip resistance is minimal.     

广西北海涠洲岛典型岸滩剖面短期冲淤变化特征

基于涠洲岛2012年12月、2013年7月和2013年12月砂质岸滩剖面高程数据以及沉积物粒度数据,作者分析了2012~2013年涠洲岛砂质海岸短期冲淤变化。结果表明:(1)2012年12月~2013年7月,在热带风暴的影响下,涠洲岛大部分岸滩发生侵蚀现象,侵蚀最严重部位一般在中滩;(2)2012年12月~2013年12月,侵蚀岸段主要在东南部、西南部和西北部低滩,淤积岸段主要在北部、西北部高中滩;(3)根据沉积物颗粒平均粒径分析结果,一般高滩沉积物较低滩粗,说明水动力环境高滩相对较强,各岸段沉积物颗粒变化基本与岸滩剖面冲淤变化相一致。短时期内,影响涠洲岛岸滩冲淤变化的因素有波浪、潮汐、风暴潮和人类活动等。     

Holocene sea‐level reconstruction in the Young Sound region,Northeast Greenland

A relative sea‐level curve over the Holocene is constructed for the Young Sound region in northeastern Greenland. The reconstruction is derived by dating the heights of raised beach ridges in coastal plains using optically stimulated luminiscence (OSL), and by dating palaeoterrestrial surface levels now buried beneath the intertidal frame using the ¹⁴C technique. The relative sea‐level curve reveals a rapid fall of at least 10 mm a^?1 from ca. 9500 to 7500 a ago, which slowed to 2 mm a^?1 until it reached the present sea level ca. 3000 a ago. This part of the curve is based on the raised beach ridge data. Thereafter, relative sea level continued to fall, to reach a minimum level at about 0.5 m below the present sea level ca. 2300 a ago. Since then, relative sea level has experienced a slow rise of about 0.2 mm a^?1. This part of the curve uses the data from the palaeoterrestrial surfaces. The study supplements other estimates of Holocene relative sea‐level changes and supports the observations of a decreasing trend in the timing of the cross point and in minimum relative sea level from South to North Greenland. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marine Isotope Stage 7–6 transition age for beach sediments at Morston,north Norfolk,UK: implications for Pleistocene chronology,stratigraphy and tectonics

Optically stimulated luminescence age estimates for the Pleistocene beach at Morston, north Norfolk, UK, obtained by the single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose protocol, indicate a Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7–6 transition date. The view that the beach is of Ipswichian (MIS 5e) age, held virtually unanimously for the last 75 years, may now be discarded. The extant beach sequence lies up to ～5 m OD, yet global models suggest that MIS 7–6 sea levels were typically substantially below that of today. The explanation may lie with poorly understood regional tectonic movements. The MIS 7–6 date helps to constrain the ages of glacial deposits that bracket the beach sediments at Morston. The underlying Marly Drift till cannot be younger than MIS 8; this may also be true for the complex assemblage of glaciogenic landforms and sediments, including the Blakeney esker, in the adjacent lower Glaven valley. The well‐established Late Devensian (MIS 2) age of the Hunstanton Till is not compromised by the date of the Morston beach. There is no indication of a proposed Briton's Lane glaciation during MIS 6 times. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于大量卫星图像研究青岛汇泉湾海滩近40年的地形地貌演变

受自然变化和人类活动影响,全球海滩普遍侵蚀。研究基于大量卫星图像评估海滩演变的方法,对于缺乏实测资料的海滩的侵蚀防护具有重要意义。使用1984~2021年的993幅卫星图像,采用聚焦剖面的亚像素海岸线识别方法识别水边线和干湿线位置,进一步得出平均高、低潮线,沟槽中线和沙坝坝顶位置,利用多指标重建汇泉湾海滩地形地貌的时空演变。使用固定地物对Sentinel卫星图像进行了地理精校正,基于海滩实测结果评估了海滩岸线位置误差。结果显示,平均高潮线、沟槽中线和沙坝坝顶的系统误差和随机误差以及平均低潮线的随机误差均较小,但平均低潮线的系统误差偏大。研究结果还揭示青岛汇泉湾海滩近40年的地形和地貌演变主要受人类活动影响。海滩平均高潮线在2003年海滩整治和补沙后由稳定转为蚀退,在2017年海滩补沙后淤进减缓;沙坝和沟槽的演变则与2002年海滩东南部码头拆除有关。建议重视研究区沙坝和沟槽近期变化,定期监测以进一步掌握其演变规律,并向沙坝和沟槽补细砂维护汇泉湾海滩。     

Inbreeding vs outbreeding depression in a marine species with low dispersal potential

Inbreeding depression strongly affects the biological fitness of organisms throughout their life cycle. These negative effects are more pronounced in species with low dispersal potentials, where mating among relatives is more likely. However, in some species, an outbreeding depression could be expressed when local adaptive and genetic beneficial interactions are disrupted when mating occurs between individuals from different localities. The amphipod Orchestoidea tuberculata inhabits the upper level of sandy beaches. This species has direct development and adults are poor swimmers, resulting in low dispersal potential. We herein evaluated potential inbreeding and outbreeding depression responses in O. tuberculata estimated in fecundity, egg size, and mate choice. Artificial families were used with individuals from different sites within a single beach and from distinct beaches. Results showed that the highest fecundity (66.7%) and the largest egg size (50.1 mm³) were recorded in females that mated with males from the same site, rather than males from other sites and beaches. We also observed potential recognition mechanisms that clearly favored inbreeding (81.8% of males chose females from the same site). These results suggest a potential outbreeding depression in O. tuberculata. Additional studies are needed to elucidate underlying adaptive mechanisms favoring inbreeding in this species.     

Ilmenite, Magnetite and Chromite Beach Placers from South Maharashtra, Central West Coast of India

The heavy mineral placer deposits of the coastal sediments in south Maharashtra stretch for 12.5 km from Pirwadi in the north to Talashil in the south. The area is a sand bar represented by a narrow submergent coastal plain lying between the Achara and Gad Rivers. The sediments in the area are mainly sands which are moderately well sorted to well sorted. The heavy mineral concentration in the surficial sediments ranges between 0.69 and 98.32 wt % (28.73 wt % in average). The heavy mineral concentration shows an increasing trend from north to south. The heavy mineral suite consists predominantly of opaque minerals (ilmenite, magnetite and chromite), garnet, pyroxene, amphibole, zircon, tourmaline, rutile, staurolite, etc. Ilmenite grains are fresh whereas magnetite grains show the effect of weathering and alteration. The chromite grains are rounded to sub-rounded with alteration at the margin of the grains. The surficial textures of the opaque minerals show mechanical breaking that indicates limited distance of transportation. Ilmenite has TiO₂ in the range between 40.04 and 46.6 wt %. Based on ore microscopy studies, the magnetite grains appear to be of two types: pure magnetite and titano-magnetite. Compositionally, the total magnetite fractions have Fe₂O₃ between 32 and 46 wt %, FeO between 19.0 and 25 wt % and TiO₂ between 14.3 and 23.9 wt %. The chromite grains are an admixture of two varieties, ferro-chromite and magnesio-chromite. The chromite grains have 32.06–47.5 wt % of Cr₂O₃ with total iron between 23.86 wt % (4.73% Fe₂O₃ and 19.13% FeO) and 27.89 wt % (4.36% Fe₂O₃ and 23.53% FeO) and MgO between 12 and 40 wt %. The observed variations in the distribution of heavy minerals in the area are due to differences in the sediment supply, their specific gravity and oceanographic processes all of which result in a selective sorting of the sediments. The observed mineral assemblages of transparent heavy minerals (pyroxene, amphibole, tourmaline, kyanite, garnet, zircon and olivine) are suggestive of their derivation from a heterogeneous provenance comprising of igneous rocks, high grade metamorphic rocks and reworked Kaladgi sediments. The chromite grains appear to have been derived from ultrabasic rocks present in the upper reaches of the Gad River. The inferred reserves of ilmenite, magnetite and chromite are 0.175, 0.395 and 0.032 million tons, respectively.     

Modelling the response of a double-barred sandy beach system to time-varying wave angles

Sandy beaches typically have one or more shore-parallel bars with superimposed smaller-scale three-dimensional (3D) bars. Knowledge of their morphodynamic behaviour under more realistic wave conditions is limited. This study investigates the response of beaches with two shore-parallel bars to sinusoidally time-varying angles of incidence, using a non-linear morphodynamic model. Different periods and amplitudes of this sinusoidal variation are considered, as well as different time-mean wave angles. For time-invariant and normally incident waves, results show that alongshore rhythmic 3D bars form in the domains of inner and outer shore-parallel bars. The 3D bars in the inner domain are coupled at half the outer-bars wavelength. This phase coupling breaks up when the wave angle varies in time. Initially, regular 3D bars form in the inner domain (free behaviour), which become irregular when 3D bars develop in the outer domain (forced behaviour). The heights of the 3D bars oscillate with time, reaching maximum values when the forcing period is comparable to the system adjustment time scale (∼ 10–20 days). For a time-varying wave angle around an oblique mean, alongshore migrating 3D bars emerge in both inner and outer domains. In contrast, for an oblique (constant) wave angle, 3D bars only form in the inner domain and they hardly migrate alongshore. For any forcing period, the dominant response period of the oscillating bar heights is at half the forcing period when waves are (on average) normally incident, and it equals the forcing period when waves are on average obliquely incident. Compared with time-invariant angles, heights of inner and outer 3D bars are (on average) smaller and larger, respectively, when the angle varies with time, particularly for forcing periods in the order of the system adjustment time scale. Increasing the amplitude of the time-varying wave angle weakens bar growth. Explanations of these results are also provided.     

Sedimentary processes operating around the entrance to a river mouth port,Westport, New Zealand

The paper presents investigations of wave climate, tidal inlet hydraulics, and sand sediment bypassing at the entrance to Westport Harbour, South Island, New Zealand. The results complement and extend those of studies of bar morphologies and sediment characteristics already published. Longshore transport of about 1 × 10⁶ m³/year is directed in a net eastward fashion across the inlet because of an in‐built misalignment of the harbour training walls. Approximately 90% of the drift is bypassed, and has been since 1921, by deflection and splitting of the main sediment streams through the inner and outer bars and a transverse channel aoross the entrance. The outer bar appears to be the submarine, downdrift extension of Carters Breach and river load appears to contribute an order of magnitude less sediment to the complex than annual littoral drift. River sediments and littoral drift are mixed off the harbour and a declining proportion over time is recirculated to cause progradation of North Beach. The tidal compartment contributes little to scour of the entrance because of the predominance of bar bypassing. Contrary to the recommendations of several past studies, it is argued that improvements in navigation depths at West‐port are more likely to be obtained through modification of the littoral drift system than they are from tidal compartment enlargement.     

Multi-decadal shoreline change and beach connectivity in a high-energy sand system

ABSTRACT

Understanding how and why the world’s coastlines are changing is a pressing international concern in a context of rising sea levels, increased climatic variability and intensifying coastal development. Medium to long-term records of coastal change are rare worldwide and often limited to individual beach compartments. This study presents a 70-year (1940–2010) aerial imagery record to compare decadal changes in shoreline position across four high-energy west coast beaches near Auckland, New Zealand/Aotearoa: Whatipu, Karekare, Piha and Te Henga (Bethells). The common exposure of these adjacent mesotidal beaches to changing wind and wave conditions might, if they present the dominant controls on shoreline position, be expected to produce synchronous change. Whatipu (935?m), Piha (32?m) and Te Henga (52?m) showed net overall progradation for the study period, while Karekare retreated slightly (?4.1?m). All except Whatipu underwent periods of beachwide erosion. Shoreline change was not coherent between beaches, despite similar exposure to variations in wind, wave and sea level. Variable sediment supply from northward littoral drift is implicated as the primary control on decadal-scale shoreline change for these beaches, highlighting the importance of local context in influencing shoreline response to changing environmental conditions.