Rocky Coasts: Quaternary Sedimentary Successions and Modern Analogues

Dear Colleagues,

Rocky coasts are peculiar depositional environments dominated by barely exposed wave-cut platforms with veneer of bouldery deposits and/or sandy to gravelly pocket beaches accumulating in coves between rocky headlands. Although rocky coasts extend along about 80% of the coasts worldwide, their erosional features and sedimentary sequences have received less attention than the well-developed sandy coast systems. This is unfortunate because the interaction between the geosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere in controlling the formation and the evolution of rocky coastal areas is not fully understood. Moreover, forecasting the response of rocky coasts to future rising sea-level and increasing storminess yields significant improvements to mitigate geological risks.

Quaternary flights of marine terraces are geological features found and studied worldwide and used to track sea-level fluctuations and accurately quantify the net vertical displacement of active tectonic coasts. Sedimentary coastal sequences covering marine terraces are usually characterized by relatively thin shallow marine deposits unconformably lying on the terrace. Sequence passes upward to thick compound dunes and/or alternation of aeolian and colluvial/alluvial systems. These aeolian systems show various dune types (barchans, climbing, clifftop, sand ramp, etc.), and the alternation with colluvial–alluvial bodies may reflect millennial-scale climate changes. This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in the study of rocky coasts with emphasis on (i) facies analysis and depositional profile of sandy, mixed and bouldery pocket beaches; (ii) coastal dune formations and evolutions; (iii) rocky shore evolution; (iiii) the discrimination of global to local and/or human-induced forcing factors on erosion/sedimentation of Quaternary rocky coastal sequences.

Contributions in all possible fields of Earth science related to rocky coastal environments are encouraged.

Dr. Stefano Andreucci
Dr. Daniele Sechi
Prof. Dr. Augusto Pérez-Alberti
Guest Editors

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• dynamics and evolution of cliffs, shore platforms and bouldery beaches
• mixed sandy–gravelly pocket beaches
• marine terraces
• beachrocks
• coastal dunes
• neotectonics
• millennial-scale climate changes (Heinrich events, D–O cycles)
• Holocene–Anthropocene