Coastal Systems

Simon K. Haslett

Description

Coastal Systems offers a concise introduction to the processes, landforms, ecosystems and management of this important global environment. Each chapter is illustrated and furnished with topical case studies from around the world. Introductory chapters establish the importance of coasts, and explain how they are studied within a systems framework; subsequent chapters explore the role of waves, tides, rivers and sea-level change in coastal evolution.

Students will benefit from summary points, themed boxes, engaging discussion questions and graded annotated guides to further reading at the end of each chapter. Additionally, a comprehensive glossary of technical terms, a new list of associated videos made by the author, and an extensive bibliography are provided. The comprehensive balance of illustrations and academic thought provides a well balanced view between the role of coastal catastrophes and gradual processes, also examining the impact humans and society have and continue to have on the coastal environment.

Sujets

• Earth Sciences
• Sciences et techniques
• Climatology
• Meteorology
• Science

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 20 juillet 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783169023
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

COASTAL SYSTEMS
COASTAL SYSTEMS
THIRD EDITION
Simon K. Haslett
© Simon K. Haslett, 2016
First edition published by Routledge imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group in 2000, as part of the Routledge Introductions to Environment Series; second edition published in 2009.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78316-900-9 eISBN 978-1-78316-902-3
The right of Simon K. Haslett to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Cover image: OxanaMahnac/Shutterstock
For Sam, Maya, Elinor and Rhiannon
CONTENTS
List of plates
List of figures
List of tables
List of boxes
Author’s preface to the first edition
Author’s preface to the second edition
Author’s preface to the third edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Coastal systems: definitions, energy and classification
2 Wave-dominated coastal systems
3 Tidally-dominated coastal systems
4 River-dominated coastal systems
5 Sea level and the changing land-sea interface
6 Coastal management issues
Conclusion
Glossary
Further reading
Videos by the author
Bibliography
LIST OF PLATES
1.1 Small-scale rock structure influences the character of a coastline. Along the granite coast of western Brittany (France), two contrasting coasts exist.
1.2 The rugged coast of Oregon (USA) is a good example of a leading edge coast.
1.3 The trailing edge coast of eastern Australia.
2.1 The influence of fetch on waves: (a) long fetch waves on the eastern Atlantic coast and (b) short fetch waves on the northeastern coast of Australia.
2.2 The Japan tsunami, 11 March 2011, inundated coastal lowlands to around 5 km inland and, as here at Sukuiso in the Iwate prefecture, damaged and destroyed buildings, and caused significant loss of life.
2.3 Types of shore platforms. (a) Type A or sloping shore platform and cliffs. (b) Type B or quasi-horizontal shore platform.
2.4 Exposed beachrock and fallen trees, indicators of coral cay instability at Green Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
2.5 A groyne built to trap sand by interrupting longshore drift at Chapel St Leonards along Lincolnshire’s North Sea coast (UK).
2.6 Beach cusps formed in a gravel storm beach east of Nash Point, Glamorgan Heritage Coast (Wales, UK).
2.7 (a) Glacial till along the southern shores of Galway Bay (Ireland). (b) Gravel beaches along the Queensland coast north of Cairns (Australia). (c) Gravel barrier at Porlock (Somerset, UK).
2.8 (a) A gravel barrier overwash fan at Ru Vein in the Baie d’Audierne (Brittany, France), and (b) a breach in the gravel barrier at Porlock (Somerset, UK).
2.9 Beach birds of southern California.
2.10 Embryo dunes forming in discrete mounds at Barneville (Normandy, France).
2.11 Dune scarp formed during winter storms and persisting into the summer at Genets in the Baie de Mont St Michel (Normandy, France).
3.1 A salt marsh cliff in the Baie de Mont St Michel (Normandy, France) showing distinct sediment couplets.
3.2 A downstream view of a road embankment built across L’Aber Estuary (Brittany, France).
3.3 Extensive cliffing of a salt marsh at Northwick Oaze in the Severn Estuary (UK).
3.4 A nest of channels in a salt marsh tidal creek at Barneville (Normandy, France).
3.5 Mangroves of the eastern Australian coastline.
4.1 A mangrove-lined tidally influenced channel, Barron River Delta near Cairns, Queensland (Australia).
4.2 The linear shore of the wave-dominated Shoalhaven Delta, New South Wales (Australia).
4.3 The extensive delta plain of the Shoalhaven Delta, New South Wales (Australia).
4.4 Cows grazing on levées of the Shoalhaven River, part of the Shoalhaven Delta, New South Wales (Australia).
4.5 Before and after views showing the impact of Hurricane Katrina at Biloxi along the Gulf of Mexico coast.
5.1 A fossil Pleistocene ‘raised beach’ at Plage de Mezpeurleuch, Brittany (France): (a) a stratified sequence; (b) a poorly sorted unit.
5.2 Sediment coring in an isolation basin at Rumach, west coast of Scotland (UK).
5.3 The coast of the Somerset Levels.
5.4 Barrier rollover at Porlock (Somerset, UK).
6.1 Quarrying of dune sand and gravel in St Ives Bay, Cornwall (UK) in 1996.
6.2 Plage de Tronoan in the Baie d’Audierne (Brittany, France) in 1994.
6.3 Infrastructure use of the coast is well illustrated by the view of the port of Penzance in Cornwall (UK).
6.4 Strandline deposits of litter on Plage de Mezpeurleuch (Brittany, France).
6.5 Caravans and motor-homes parked on a salt marsh at Mont St Michel (Normandy, France).
6.6 Pointe du Raz in Brittany is the westernmost tip of mainland France and suffers intense tourist pressure.
6.7 Vast accumulation of algae on Fautec Beach (Brittany, France).
6.8 Information for tourists on the management zoning of Green Island in the Cairns section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Endogenetic and exogenetic energy and processes and their contribution to the development of coastal landscapes.
1.2 Types of systems.
1.3 Types of equilibrium.
1.4 Examples of feedback relationships in coastal systems. (a) Example of positive feedback. (b) Example of negative feedback.
1.5 The distribution of the earth’s crustal plates and their various boundary types.
1.6 Subdivision of the coastal zone using both morphological and wave process terminology.
2.1 The distribution of global wave environments.
2.2 (a) Wave description. (b) The circular orbit of an oscillatory wave.
2.3 Wave progression through deep-to shallow-water processes.
2.4 Wave shoaling.
2.5 Wave refraction on an irregular coastline.
2.6 Types of breaking waves as a function of wave-height, water depth and beach slope gradient.
2.7 The creation of wind waves.
2.8 A woodcut depicting the coastal flood of 30 January 1607 in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary, UK.
2.9 Influences of geological structure (a and b) and lithology (c and d) on coastal cliff development.
2.10 Mechanisms of cliff failure: (a) rotational slumping; (b) toppling failure.
2.11 The geomorphology of a rocky coastline.
2.12 (a) Negative feedback system between wave-energy, cliff retreat and platform expansion. (b) Profiles of shore platform morphology types.
2.13 The geomorphology of a coral patch reef.
2.14 Morphodynamic responses of barrier islands to changing environmental conditions.
2.15 The general geomorphology and sedimentology of a beach.
2.16 Beach profiles surveyed over a ten-year period (1997–2007) at Ru Vein, a gravel beach/barrier, in the Baie d’Audierne (Brittany, France).
2.17 (a) Longshore drift. (b) Formation of spits and baymouth bars as a consequence of longshore drift. (c) Formation of a tombolo.
2.18 The development of rip currents along a swash-aligned beach.
2.19 Beach cusp stability in relation to swash circulation.
2.20 (a) Comparison of wind velocity over bare sand and grass. (b) Fluid and impact threshold velocities for different particle sizes.
2.21 The formation (a) and migration (b and c) of sand dunes, also indicating the development of internal cross-bedding.
2.22 (a) Geomorphology of a coastal dune system. (b) The distribution and influence of some environmental parameters affecting coastal dunes.
3.1 The formation of the tidal bulge with regard to the relative position of the earth, moon and sun.
3.2 Examples of semi-diurnal, mixed and diurnal tidal cycles.
3.3 The distribution of semi-diurnal, mixed and diurnal tidal cycles around the global coastline.
3.4 The amphidromic systems in the seas around the British Isles.
3.5 Areas of the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta prone to flooding to depths greater than 90 cm.
3.6 (a) The distribution of tidal ranges around the global coastline. (b) The variation of tidal range during monthly tidal cycles. (c) Coastal geomorphological features associated with the various tidal range categories.
3.7 The geomorphological significance of tidal range.
3.8 Tidal current activity and sediment deposition.
3.9 A series of bar-built estuaries on the coast of Cardigan Bay (Wales, UK).
3.10 Estuary types according to Pritchard’s (1955) salt-balance principle classification.
3.11 (a) Sediment pathways in an estuarine system. (b) The mechanics of settling lag.
3.12 Various salt marsh settings in tidal environments.
3.13 Three categories of salt marsh shorelines.
3.14 A model predicting sediment deposition and distribution upon quasi-horizontal salt marsh surfaces.
3.15 The relationship between horizontal erosion and accretion in determining salt marsh shore regime.
3.16 Alternating negative and positive salt marsh shore regimes.
3.17 The influence of salt marsh shoreline position on temporal grain size distribution.
4.1 The relationship between delta dynamics and river, wave and tidal influences.
4.2 Classification of modern deltas based on dominant processes (waves, tides and rivers).
4.3 Extension of the delta classification scheme to incorporate sediment particle size.
4.4 Three types of delta hydrodynamics based on the density differences between river and sea/lake water.
4.5 General structure of a delta, indicating the location of topset, foreset and bottomset beds.
4.6 Schematic geomorphology of a river delta.
4.7 Schematic geomorphology of fan deltas.
4.8 Shoalhav