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Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales
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Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Geological Oceanography".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 January 2024) | Viewed by 13483

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Susana Costas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIMA), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
Interests: coastal evolution; temporal scales; dune–beach morphodynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Duncan M. FitzGerald

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Interests: shallow marine geology; the morphodynamics of bedform evolution; the inner-shelf sedimentary signatures from transgressions and regressions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that I announce the publication of a Special Issue with the objective of bringing in examples that show how coastal systems react and adapt at different temporal scales and to different stressors. Natural systems respond and adapt to changing environmental conditions or other disturbances through time. A major constraint in understanding coastal adaptation at long-term temporal scales lies in the elevated degree of complexity of the responses, a consequence of their non-linearity and the many feedbacks that exist among the different components of a coastal system. This prevents extrapolating observations capturing short- to medium-term coastal adaptations. The stratigraphic record may significantly contribute to understanding the response of natural systems at longer time scales. However, the testimony left by the continuum of change in the coast may be partially incomplete or may not capture all possible response pathways. As coastal resilience is inextricably linked to these adaptation strategies, taking place over the full spectrum of coastal change, it is extremely relevant to explore and compile examples assessing the different scales of change, in order to identify not only possible tipping points but also the consequences of crossing such boundaries.

As Guest Editor, I cordially invite you to contribute with original papers for consideration and possible publication in a Special Issue on “Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales” to be published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering.

Dr. Susana Costas
Prof. Dr. Duncan M. FitzGerald
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Coastal barrier evolution, vulnerability and resilience
  • Evidence of non-linear barrier dynamics over distinct temporal scales
  • Beach and dune morphodynamics
  • Shoreline evolution from years to decades
  • Perturbations and (eco)geomorphic adaptation of beach–dune systems across timescales
  • Formation, evolution, and sealing of transgressive coastal dunes
  • Observations of coastal adaptation through different time scales
  • Impacts of climate and meteocean conditions variability on the beach-dune system
  • Cross-scale integration of coastal barrier change

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 13635 KiB  
Article
Mesoscale Shoreline Evolution on a Carbonate Sand Island: Anegada, British Virgin Islands
by Anna Lisa Cescon, J. Andrew G. Cooper, Derek W. T. Jackson, Antoine Collin and Shannon Gore
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(9), 1725; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11091725 - 01 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 893
Abstract
Anegada, the easternmost island of the Virgin Islands group (Caribbean Sea), is a low Pleistocene carbonate platform surrounded by Horseshoe Reef, the world’s third-largest fringing reef. The western part of the island consists of an extensive beachridge plain (>40 ridges). The sandy carbonate [...] Read more.
Anegada, the easternmost island of the Virgin Islands group (Caribbean Sea), is a low Pleistocene carbonate platform surrounded by Horseshoe Reef, the world’s third-largest fringing reef. The western part of the island consists of an extensive beachridge plain (>40 ridges). The sandy carbonate shoreline exists in three morphodynamic domains that exhibit distinctive behaviour over the 59-year study period (1953 to 2012). The northern shore is dominated by westerly longshore drift under fair-weather conditions and cross-shore sediment transport during high-energy events. Storm wave run-up and high nearshore sediment availability contribute to the construction of shore-parallel beachridges. The western end of the island is affected by refracted waves that drive strong erosion and sediment transport. This is reflected in a succession of alternating rapid shoreline recession and progradation phases over the study period. The south–central shoreline is exposed to low wave energy and is stable and colonised by mangroves. The fringing reef plays a dominant role in mesoscale shoreline morphodynamics, both as a sediment source and in wave energy dissipation. Quasi-stable points and embayments suggest a strong influence of the reef framework in controlling the shoreline’s morphology and position. Sediment transfer from the reef to the shoreline appears to take place via shore-oblique, linear sediment transport pathways that develop across the lagoon in response to the modification of incoming waves. Cannibalisation of the shoreline sediment over the past 50 years is leading to straightening of the shoreline planform. This is counter to the long-term (Holocene) development of beachridges and suggests a change from a strongly positive to negative sediment budget. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales)
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22 pages, 5534 KiB  
Article
Hydrodynamics and Sediment-Transport Pathways along a Mixed-Energy Spit-Inlet System: A Modeling Study at Chincoteague Inlet (Virginia, USA)
by Ioannis Y. Georgiou, Francesca Messina, Md Mohiuddin Sakib, Shan Zou, Madeline Foster-Martinez, Martijn Bregman, Christopher J. Hein, Michael S. Fenster, Justin L. Shawler, Kaitlyn McPherran and Arthur C. Trembanis
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(5), 1075; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11051075 - 18 May 2023
Viewed by 1626
Abstract
Tidal-inlet systems are dynamic features that respond to short-term (e.g., storms) and longer-term processes (e.g., sea-level rise, changes in tidal prism). The Chincoteague Inlet system, located along the northern Eastern Shore of Virginia (USA), is a dynamic coastal complex that experiences rapid change [...] Read more.
Tidal-inlet systems are dynamic features that respond to short-term (e.g., storms) and longer-term processes (e.g., sea-level rise, changes in tidal prism). The Chincoteague Inlet system, located along the northern Eastern Shore of Virginia (USA), is a dynamic coastal complex that experiences rapid change associated with sediment redistribution and a shifting inlet throat due to the southern elongation of adjacent Assateague Island. In this study, a numerical model based on Delft3D with coupled flow–waves, multiclass sediment transport, and morphologic feedback was developed to quantify the hydrodynamic and geomorphic controls within this rapidly evolving inlet–spit system and to develop a more comprehensive understanding of regional to local controls on sediment-transport pathways. Model results show that most of the sand transport along southern Assateague Island is sequestered nearshore and proximally in deeper sinks within Fishing Point, and, of that, only finer sand sizes are transported around the spit, confirming previous analysis and hypothesis. The model also showed that sand transport toward the south increases along Wallops Island and quantified spatially explicit transport trends for selected sediment classes, revealing that coarser sediment bypassing is a punctuated process that is proportional to storms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales)
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22 pages, 3459 KiB  
Article
Evolutionary Trajectories of Coastal Sand Barriers along the West Portuguese Coast during the Holocene
by Susana Costas
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(12), 1894; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10121894 - 05 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1299
Abstract
Coastal sand barriers are dynamic features with complex depositional sequences holding critical information regarding system response to disturbances at secular to millennial time scales. Here, the evolutionary trajectories of three barriers located along the Portuguese coast are reconstructed over the Middle to Late [...] Read more.
Coastal sand barriers are dynamic features with complex depositional sequences holding critical information regarding system response to disturbances at secular to millennial time scales. Here, the evolutionary trajectories of three barriers located along the Portuguese coast are reconstructed over the Middle to Late Holocene using geophysical subsurface images, modern morphology and dating of dune and beach deposits. The integration of new and available information from the documents of the selected site contrasts histories with modern barriers displaying ages ranging from hundreds to thousands of years and non-linear trajectories defined by shifts between morphological states. Younger barriers appear to represent the latest progradational state within a history of landward barrier migration, where progradational states alternated with transgressive states. Conversely, the oldest barrier shows a single phase of barrier growth, despite some minor hiatus in progradation. Barrier state shifts appear to have simultaneously occurred across systems, suggesting external drivers of regional scale linked to Holocene climate variability, namely, periods of storminess activity, while the different trajectories displayed by the three sites appear related to site-specific variables controlling exposure to waves and winds. Exposed sites showed a lower ability to absorb disturbances and a greater range of system responses, varying between transgressive and progradational states. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales)
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26 pages, 19553 KiB  
Article
Geologic Framework, Anthropogenic Impacts, and Hydrodynamics Contribute to Variable Sediment Availability and Shoreface Morphology at the Rockaway Peninsula, NY
by Emily Wei and Jennifer Miselis
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(7), 989; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10070989 - 20 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1571
Abstract
Recent field and modeling studies have shown that barrier island resiliency is sensitive to sediment fluxes from the shoreface, making it important to evaluate how shoreface sediment availability varies in coastal systems. To do this, we assessed shoreface geology and morphology along the [...] Read more.
Recent field and modeling studies have shown that barrier island resiliency is sensitive to sediment fluxes from the shoreface, making it important to evaluate how shoreface sediment availability varies in coastal systems. To do this, we assessed shoreface geology and morphology along the Rockaway Peninsula, NY, USA. We find that spatial variability in shoreface volume is influenced by sediment accommodation above the Holocene-Pleistocene (H-P) contact, historical barrier island evolution, and natural and engineered morphologic features, suggesting that simply identifying the H-P boundary may not be adequate for defining the shoreface reservoir. Further, sediment flux from the lower shoreface to the beach may be reduced by geologically limited cross-shore sediment distribution and shoreface steepening mediated by human modifications to the shoreline. Finally, the geologic limit of the shoreface is often shallower than a wave-based estimate of shoreface extent, implying that the geologic shoreface extent at our study site can be mobilized over short time scales (years-decades) and that the wave-based shoreface extent may be inaccurate when estimating shoreline response to sea-level rise. Our results demonstrate that the combination of hydrodynamics, humans, and geology on shoreface sediment fluxes impact how barrier islands respond to future changes in sediment supply and climate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales)
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32 pages, 13436 KiB  
Article
Late Quaternary Evolution of a Submerged Karst Basin Influenced by Active Tectonics (Koločep Bay, Croatia)
by Dragana Šolaja, Slobodan Miko, Dea Brunović, Nikolina Ilijanić, Ozren Hasan, George Papatheodorou, Maria Geraga, Tatjana Durn, Dimitris Christodoulou and Ivan Razum
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(7), 881; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10070881 - 27 Jun 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1778
Abstract
Koločep bay is a 30 km elongated karst basin located between the Elafiti Islands and the mainland with a NW–SE general direction. The bay lies within the seismically active southern Dalmatia zone. Irregular grid sub-bottom profiles and two legacy reflection seismic profiles have [...] Read more.
Koločep bay is a 30 km elongated karst basin located between the Elafiti Islands and the mainland with a NW–SE general direction. The bay lies within the seismically active southern Dalmatia zone. Irregular grid sub-bottom profiles and two legacy reflection seismic profiles have been used to determine the overall morphology of the bay and to establish the seismic stratigraphy of its sedimentary infill. Three major seismic–stratigraphic units have been identified in the upper ~50 m of the ~120-meter-thick sedimentary sequence that lies above the karstified limestone bedrock. The karst polje basin was flooded due to sea-level rise before 12.1 kyr BP. The morphology of the bay implies complex influences of Late Glacial meltwater discharges, aeolian sand deposition, the existence of paleo–ponor/karst spring zones and buried Pleistocene river channels. The Pleistocene seismotectonic units are deformed in the NW and SE parts of the basin. The central part of the basin has no signatures of intensive tectonic activity during the Holocene. A major erosion event was identified that led to the formation of a basin within the older sedimentary infill. In the southern part of the basin, we have evidence of Holocene tectonic activity with the formation of erosional scarps on the seafloor of the bay. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales)
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19 pages, 13292 KiB  
Article
Following the Sand Grains
by Duncan M. FitzGerald, Zoe J. Hughes, Alice Staro, Christopher J. Hein, Md Mohiuddin Sakib, Ioannis Y. Georgiou and Alyssa Novak
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(5), 631; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10050631 - 05 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2415
Abstract
When longshore transport systems encounter tidal inlets, complex mechanisms are involved in bypassing sand to downdrift barriers. Here, this process is examined at Plum Island Sound and Essex Inlets, Massachusetts, USA. One major finding from this study is that sand is transferred along [...] Read more.
When longshore transport systems encounter tidal inlets, complex mechanisms are involved in bypassing sand to downdrift barriers. Here, this process is examined at Plum Island Sound and Essex Inlets, Massachusetts, USA. One major finding from this study is that sand is transferred along the coast—especially at tidal inlets—by parcels, in discrete steps, and over decadal-scale periods. The southerly orientation of the main-ebb channel at Plum Island Sound, coupled with the landward migration of bars from the ebb delta to the central portion of the downdrift Castle Neck barrier island, have formed a beach protuberance. During the constructional phase, sand is sequestered at the protuberance and the spit-end of the barrier becomes sediment starved, leading to shoreline retreat and a broadening of the spit platform at the mouth to Essex Bay (downdrift side of Castle Neck). Storm-induced sand transport from erosion of the spit and across the spit platform is washed into Essex Bay, filling channels and enlarging flood deltas. This study illustrates the pathways and processes of sand transfer along the shoreline of a barrier-island/tidal-inlet system and provides an important example of the processes that future hydrodynamic and sediment-transport modeling should strive to replicate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales)
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24 pages, 4484 KiB  
Article
Measuring Organization of Large Surficial Clasts in Heterogeneous Gravel Beach Sediments
by Dennis C. Lees, Christopher J. Hein and Duncan M. FitzGerald
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(4), 525; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10040525 - 11 Apr 2022
Viewed by 1979
Abstract
The natural stratification and interlocking “organization” of armored sediments in heterogeneous, coarse-grained, beaches provides protection and enhances habitat for borrowing sedentary megafauna and macrofauna such as hard-shelled clams. Here, we develop a novel metric for quantifying sediment organization of large surficial beach clasts [...] Read more.
The natural stratification and interlocking “organization” of armored sediments in heterogeneous, coarse-grained, beaches provides protection and enhances habitat for borrowing sedentary megafauna and macrofauna such as hard-shelled clams. Here, we develop a novel metric for quantifying sediment organization of large surficial beach clasts through sedimentologic and photogrammetric analyses of 37 lower intertidal heterogeneous gravel beaches in western Prince William Sound, Alaska (USA). Grain size, photogrammetric, and Wolman Pebble Count clast-size data from 64, ~1-m2 study plots are combined into a clast-size-independent “Organization Metric” to quantify the degree of organization in the meshed arrangement of larger surficial sediments. This metric was validated through field manipulation experiments and comparisons of adjacent plots characterized by different clast sizes. Application of this metric to subsets of Prince William Sound beaches that underwent differential treatment following the Exxon Valdez oil spill reveals persistent physical effects of artificial beach disturbance even 21 years after the cleanup. This has important implications for beach management (e.g., cleaning or dredging) and for the diverse and productive sedentary megafaunal assemblages that live within these sediments. Overall, this study provides a new approach for quantifying organization of heterogenous coarse sediments in diverse natural settings; in particular, heterogenous gravel beaches. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Learning from Geomorphological Adaptation of Coasts at Different Time Scales)
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