Equilibrium beach profile model for perched beaches

A beach profile equilibrium model for perched beaches is presented. The model assumes that wave reflection at the seaward and leeward sides of the breakwater is the most important process that modifies Dean's equilibrium profile model for non-perched beaches. The influence of wave breaking over the submerged structure is also discussed. Several laboratory data sets are used to analyze the merit of the proposed model for describing the equilibrium condition of a perched beach. A good comparison is obtained. Results show that if the ratio between the water depth above the submerged structure, d, and the water depth at the toe of the structure, h_e, is large, d/h_e>0.5, only minor advance of the shoreline is achieved with the construction of a toe structure. A considerable advance is obtained for d/h_e less that 0.1. In these situations, however, resonant effects may result in an inefficient structure. The proposed model is used to provide an estimation for the required sand volume and the associated beach advance for the case of narrow breakwaters.     

Sediment accumulation in embayments controlled by bathymetric slope and wave energy: Implications for beach formation and persistence

High energy, rocky coastlines often feature sandy beaches within headland‐bound embayments. Not all such embayments have beaches however, and beaches in embayments can be removed by storms and may subsequently reform. What dictates the presence or absence of an embayed beach and its resilience to storms? In this paper, we explore the effect of offshore slope and wind conditions on nearshore sediment transport within idealised embayments to give insight into nearshore sediment supplies. We use numerical simulations to show that sand can accumulate near shore if the offshore slope is >0.025 m/m, but only under persistent calm conditions. Our modelling also suggests that if sediment in an embayment with an offshore gradient steeper than 0.025 m/m is removed during a period of persistent stormy conditions, it will be unlikely to return in sub‐decadal timescales. In contrast, sediment located in embayments with shallower gradients can reform swiftly in both calm and stormy conditions. Our findings have wide implications for contemporary coastal engineering in the face of future global climate change, but also for Quaternary environmental reconstruction. Our simple method to predict beach stability based on slope can be used to interpret differing responses of embayments to periods of changing coastal storminess such as the medieval climate anomaly‐little ice age (MCA‐LIA) transition. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

海滩养护修复过程中拦沙堤的应用

拦沙堤作为海滩养护最常用的辅助工程之一,在全球范围内得到广泛应用。在总结我国海滩养护过程中拦沙堤应用现状的基础上,将拦沙堤的功能分为3类（防泥沙扩散、防沿岸输沙、防浪+防输沙）,并详细分析这3类拦沙堤在我国海滩养护的应用现状和发展规律。基于国内外工程实践,进一步探讨海滩养护中拦沙堤的多项应用创新：组合式拦沙堤设计、拦沙堤平面形态优化、拦沙堤堤群设计、拦沙堤+潜堤组合优化、拦沙堤+旁通输沙/循环养护。最后,展望未来海滩养护中拦沙堤的发展应用趋势（拦沙量的精准调控、丰富多样的形态设计、基于“自然工法”的生态化建设）,并给出了相关建议。     

Spatial variability in beach biogeomorphology in a tropical archipelago

Beaches of tropical island coasts exhibit high levels of diversity in composition and form in comparison with their continental counterparts. To investigate the nature and origin of this diversity, individual beach morphology and sedimentology was investigated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a Caribbean archipelago of > 60 high volcanic and low reef islands. The islands exhibit a diversity of orientations (some facing the Atlantic and some the Caribbean), elevation and gradient, rock type and wave energy. An examination of 100 beaches in the archipelago revealed a first-order division into sand (70 beaches) and coral rubble (30 beaches). These beaches occur in seven planform types (determined by the antecedent geological framework) and are further subdivided according to shoreface type (seagrass, sandy shoreface, or reef). Mainland-attached headland-embayment beaches are the most common form of sand beach while coral rubble beaches usually occur as barriers that enclose salt ponds and wetlands. Among sand beaches, carbonate content is greatest on Atlantic-facing beaches, and coral rubble beaches are more common on Caribbean-facing beaches. Grain size characteristics on sandy beaches are highly variable and range from fine to very coarse sands while coral rubble beaches range up to boulder-sized clasts. The local source material is a primary determinant of sediment composition. The local factors such as the underlying geology, source and availability of sediments are the primary determinants of beach form, composition and texture in the BVI. Oceanographic and climatic conditions such as the prevailing easterly trade winds and waves which seasonally range in direction from east-northeast to southeast as well as beach orientation to Atlantic- or Caribbean-facing waves also contribute to the variability, but in a secondary role. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterizing beach intertidal bar systems using multi-annual LiDAR data

Intertidal bars are common in mesotidal/macrotidal low-to-moderate energy coastal environments and an understanding of their morphodynamics is important from the perspective of both coastal scientists and managers. However, previous studies have typically been limited by considering bar systems two-dimensionally, or with very limited alongshore resolution. This article presents the first multi-annual study of intertidal alongshore bars and troughs in a macrotidal environment using airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data to extract three-dimensional (3D) bar morphology at high resolution. Bar and trough positions are mapped along a 17.5 km stretch of coastline in the northwest of England on the eastern Irish Sea, using eight complete, and one partial, LiDAR surveys spanning 17 years. Typically, 3–4 bars are present, with significant obliquity identified in their orientation. This orientation mirrors the alignment of waves from the dominant south-westerly direction of wave approach, undergoing refraction as they approach the shoreline. Bars also become narrower and steeper as they migrate onshore, in a pattern reminiscent of wave shoaling. This suggests that the configuration of the bars is being influenced by overlying wave activity. Net onshore migration is present for the entire coastline, though rates vary alongshore, and periods of offshore migration may occur locally, with greatest variability between northern and southern regions of the coastline. This work highlights the need to consider intertidal bar systems as 3D, particularly on coastlines with complex configurations and bathymetry, as localized studies of bar migration can overlook 3D behaviour. Furthermore, the wider potential of LiDAR data in enabling high-resolution morphodynamic studies is clear, both within the coastal domain and beyond. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Morphodynamic interactions of continental shelf,beach and dunes: the Cabopino dune system in southern Mediterranean Spain

The complex morphodynamic interactions between nearshore, shoreface and dune systems are usually simplified by studying these zones and their associated processes in isolation. However, the established relationships between each of them suggests that an integrated approach is required to examine the genesis, evolution and adaptation of the entire morphodynamic system. The Cabopino dune system in the southern Spanish Mediterranean Sea provides a clear example of a linked morphodynamic system in which a relatively large dune system has been generated and grown through the supply of sediments from an adjacent littoral supply environment. Here, we present a conceptual model of how the nearshore has provided suitable conditions for beach and dune development. We purport that synchronization of sediment activation in the marine and aeolian sections of the system have played a major role in this microtidal setting in which temporal aspects are not only tied to storm action, but to large sedimentary features moving alongshore. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-efficiency gravel longshore sediment transport and headland bypassing over an extreme wave event

Gravel beaches are common throughout the high latitudes, but few studies have examined gravel transport rates, in particular at high energy levels, and no studies have quantified gravel transport around headlands. Here, we present the first complete sediment budget, including supra-, inter- and sub-tidal regions of the beach, across multiple headland-separated gravel embayments, combined with hydrodynamic observations, over an extreme storm sequence, representing at least a 1-in-50-year event. Unprecedented erosion was observed (~400 m³ m⁻¹, −6 m vertical), with alongshore flux of 2 × 10⁵ m³, equivalent to annual rates. Total system volume change was determined to the depth of closure and then used to calculate alongshore flux rates. Alongshore wave power was obtained from a wave transformation model. For an open section of coastline, we derive a transport coefficient (CERC formula) of K_Hs = 0.255 ± 0.05, exceeding estimates in lower-energy conditions by a factor of 5 or more. We apply this coefficient to rocky segments of the shoreline, determining rates of headland bypass from 0 to 31% of potential flux, controlled by headland extent and toe depth. Our results support the hypothesis that gravel is transported more efficiently at higher energy levels and that a variable rate or threshold approach may be required. Complete coverage and varying morphology make this dataset uniquely suited to improving model predictions of gravel shoreline change. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling the impact of a time-varying wave angle on the nonlinear evolution of sand bars in the surf zone

Sandy beaches are often characterized by the presence of sand bars, whose characteristics (growth, migration speed, etc.) strongly depend on offshore wave conditions, such as wave height and angle of wave incidence. This study addresses the impact of a sinusoidally time-varying wave angle of incidence with different time-means on the saturation height, migration speed and longshore spacing of sand bars. Model results show that shore-transverse sand bars (so-called TBR bars) eventually develop under a time-varying wave angle. Depending on the time-mean, amplitude and period of the varying angle of wave incidence, the mean heights and mean migration speeds of the bars can be larger or smaller than their corresponding values in the case of time-invariant angles. Bars might not even form when the wave angle varies around a too large oblique mean value, whereas bars exist in the case of a time-invariant wave angle. The oscillations in both bar height and migration speed are large if the period of the time-varying wave angle is close to the adjustment timescale of the system and if large differences in the local growth and migration rates of the bars occur during one oscillation period. The oscillations in bar height are a combination of harmonics with the principal period and half the period of the time-varying wave angle, whereas those of migration speed contain only the principal period. Bars that are subject to time-varying wave angles have larger longshore crest-to-crest spacings than those which form under fixed wave angles. Physical explanations for these findings are given. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

基于图像法和激光法的山东半岛黄岛海滩沉积物粒度特征对比

以新型快速成像及处理技术为基础的动态图像法可为单个样品快速建立百万至上亿个颗粒的图像及粒度、粒形参数数据库,可直观表现天然沉积物的海量颗粒的大小和形状信息,但目前对其与激光法测试结果之间的异同尚缺乏深入理解。本文对采自山东半岛黄岛地区黄海沿岸3处海滩共190个样品进行动态图像粒度分析,通过等效投影面积径(等积径)计算均值粒径、分选系数、偏度、峰度等粒度参数,并与激光法测试结果进行对比。结果表明:1)现代海滩沉积物图像法统计粒径比激光法稍粗,但二者之间的差异较之细粒沉积物较多的类型(如冲洪积物)而言已经很小;2)现代海滩沉积物图像法粒度分析较之激光法分选更优,偏度和峰度均更小;3)图像法和激光法粒度分析结果在沉积环境判别中具有相近的功能,但图像法对沉积环境和动力条件的响应更为敏感。这些认识为动态图像粒度分析技术的应用推广和资料解释提供了新的理论与技术支持。     

大港南部滩海区沙三段原油地球化学特征及油源分析

大港油田南部滩海区毗邻歧口和歧南两大生烃凹陷,具有双向供烃优势。沙三段是研究区最主要的产油层,但目前对该层段的油源对比结果尚存在争议。为明确油源,分别对原油的族组分、碳同位素、异戊二烯烃和甾萜类化合物等指标的地球化学特征进行分析对比,划分了原油类型。结果表明,南部滩海区沙三段原油可分为三类,第一类原油主要来自沙三段烃源岩,第二类原油主要来自沙一下段烃源岩,第三类原油地化特征介于两者之间,推测其为沙一下段与沙三段烃源岩的混合来源。三类原油在区域上也存在一定的分布规律。