rock coast inheritance an example from galicia northwestern spain a shore platform on the western coast of galicia in northwestern spain has been inherited from interglacial stages when sea level was similar to today the wide gently sloping intertidal platform is backed in places by supratidal rock ledges and in other places by a steeper and narrower supratidal ramp the gradient of the intertidal platform is consistent with the relationship between platform gradient and tidal range but the slope of the ramp is much too high the abandoned and degraded sea cliff is grass covered along most of this coast and the ledges and the ramp which extend up to several metres above the highest tides are covered by lichen and in places by salt tolerant plants radiocarbon dated sediments in the cliff which range up to 36 000 years in age lie on top of an ancient beach deposit the former beach remnants of which are found in situ on the ramp and rock ledges as well as two caves that are filled with the dated sediments are probably last interglacial in age the morphological and sedimentary evidence suggests that the supratidal ramp and ledges were also formed during the last interglacial stage whereas the wider intertidal platform is probably the product of several older interglacials when sea level was generally similar to today a general model is proposed for the inheritance of shore platforms in macro and microtidal environments copyright 1999 john wiley sons ltd

an exploratory numerical model of rocky shore profile evolution abstract rocky shores occur along much of the world s coastline and include a wide range of coastal morphologies such as intertidal shore platforms considerable research effort has been placed on trying to understand developmental processes on rocky shores but progress has been forestalled because these landscapes develop slowly and preserve little evidence of evolution through time this paper presents a new exploratory numerical model developed to study long term shore profile evolution on rock coasts the model purposely considers only a limited number of processes each represented in a highly abstracted way despite these simplifications the model exhibits a large range of emergent shore profile shapes this behavior is enabled both by broader spatial representation of the driving erosion forces and the flexibility provided by a grid discretization scheme initial model testing shows the development of varied rocky profile geometries ranging from steep plunging cliffs cliffs with narrow benches and cliffs with a variety of shore platform shapes most of the model geometries are similar to those observed in the field and model behavior is robust and internally consistent across a relatively large parameter space this paper provides a detailed description of the new model and its subsequent testing emphasis is placed on comparison of model results with published field observations in which morphometric relationships are described between shore platform gradient and tidal range and platform elevation and platform width the model adequately simulates these morphometric relationships while retaining its ability to simulate a wide range of profile shapes the simplicity of process representations and the limited number of processes implemented means that model outputs can be interpreted reasonably easily hence an opportunity is now provided following the testing described in this paper to use the model to systematically investigate the broader controlling conditions on rock shore profile development

fission track analysis reveals character of collisional tectonics in new zealand during the late cenozoic the pacific plate has been obliquely converging with the australia plate in south island new zealand this has resulted in westward obduction of continental crust of the pacific plate and consequently a major mountain range the southern alps has formed east of the alpine fault and within the leading edge of the pacific plate we have applied the apatite and zircon fission track dating technique to a suite of outcrop samples from three transects across the southern alps starting at the alpine fault to better understand the uplift age and structure of the continental collision the results show the following 1 uplift was underway at 7 ma in the south at haast pass and by 5 ma in the north at arthur s pass 2 profiles of the total amount of late cenozoic uplift show an exponential increase toward the alpine fault adjacent to the alpine fault there has been 14 5 to 21 5 km of uplift in the vicinity of haast pass 14 5 to 21 km near mt cook and 12 5 to 15 5 km in the arthur s pass transect adjacent to the alpine fault in the mount cook region the average uplift rate from 5 5 ma to 1 ma was 2 3 to 2 5 mm yr between 1 ma and the present it has averaged 6 2 mm yr the strongly asymmetric uplift pattern is responsible for the exposure of a 13 25 km wide belt of greenschist to midamphibolite facies rocks immediately east of the alpine fault known as the alpine schists 3 late cenozoic uplift of torlesse greywackes and alpine schists was preceeded during the jurassic early cretaceous by 5 8 km of uplift the otago schist belt to the south was uplifted much more during this interval and in addition western parts of the otago schists were uplifted 5 6 km during the late cretaceous 4 the fission track data do not support the notion of significant late cenozoic shear heating about the alpine fault as previously suggested from spatial variations in k ar ages of the otago and alpine schists

chalk coast dynamics implications for understanding rock coast evolution rock cliffs and shore platforms are linked components of the world s coastal zone understanding of the dynamics of their relationships has been hindered by the often imperceptible changes that occur within human time scales the cretaceous chalk coasts of northwest europe and particularly those of southeast england are among the most dynamic and most intensively studied cliffed rock coasts in the world perceptible changes to both cliffs and platforms have been measured on monthly seasonal annual and decadal time scales through a review of previously published data and the addition of data not previously published average cliff retreat rates are calculated as 0 49 0 38 m y 1 and platform erosion rates 3 999 3 208 mm y 1 this paper highlights some of the interactions over time and space between process and measurement that continue to limit our understanding of the dynamics of rock coasts in particular the link between rates of cliff retreat and platform erosion it concludes by identifying fruitful areas for future research keywords rock coast cliff shore platform chalk coastal erosion weathering

a lateglacial age for the main rock platform western scotland the sea level record preserved in ancient shorelines forms a basis for studies of tectonic uplift glacial loading and the changing volume of the oceans the existing record is derived largely from depositional features such as beach ridges and coral reefs which contain material suitable for radiometric dating erosional shorelines have proved more difficult to date direct age estimates for shore platforms can now be obtained with exposure dating techniques based on cosmic ray produced isotopes here we report measurements of cosmogenic 36 cl on the main rock platform in western scotland that indicate its formation in a postglacial event spanning less than a few thousand years together with isostatic modeling the 36 cl results suggest cutting during the younger dryas in britain the lateglacial or loch lomond stadial when stable sea level and severe climatic conditions combined to enhance bedrock erosion

modeling the role of weathering in shore platform development a mathematical wave erosional model was modified to study the additional effect of weathering by wetting and drying and salt weathering on the development of shore platforms in macro to mesotidal environments model rates of downwearing by these processes at different tidal elevations were based on data obtained from a series of laboratory experiments on sandstones from eastern canada backwearing by mechanical wave erosion was calculated using basic wave equations there were several types of run which were designed to determine the effect of weathering and the production of fine grained sediment the periodic accumulation of debris on weathering in the upper intertidal zone and weathering in reducing rock resistance and facilitating wave quarrying the results implied that compared to mechanical wave erosion the direct effect of weathering and fine grained sediment production makes only a small contribution to the long term development of shore platforms the relationship between cliff foot debris occurrence and platform development and morphology was inconsistent because of the negative feedback relationship between erosion rates surface gradients and rates of wave attenuation the model suggested that weathering can play an important indirect role in assisting wave quarrying of joint blocks and other rock fragments

the effect of holocene changes in relative sea level on the morphology of rocky coasts abstract a mathematical wave and weathering model was used to study the effect of holocene changes in relative sea level rsl on rock coast development model runs were made for fast and slow eroding coasts in macro and mesotidal environments using holocene rsl records from sweden northeastern usa southwestern britain central japan western africa and southern australia a further series of otherwise identical runs were made with constant sea level changes in rsl determined the amount of time that marine processes have operated within the modern intertidal zone and rates of wave attenuation and erosion continue to be influenced by subtidal morphology that developed in most areas when rsl was rising to its present level the model suggested that although tidal range is also important holocene rsl changes promoted subhorizontal platform development in australasia and over much of the southern hemisphere and sloping platforms over much of the northern hemisphere shore platforms may have been partly inherited from earlier periods in the holocene when rsl was similar to today s nevertheless most platforms continue to be eroded at all tidal levels where geological and wave conditions are less favourable erosion in the lower intertidal zone has essentially terminated in areas where rsl rose to its present position whereas erosion only occurs today in the lower intertidal zone in places where rsl rose to above its present level in the middle holocene

modeling the development of marine terraces on tectonically mobile rock coasts abstract a mathematical model was used to study the effect of glacially induced fluctuations in sea level on the formation of wave cut terraces on tectonically mobile rock coasts two deep water wave sets were used to calculate breaker height and depth which along with surf zone width bottom roughness and the gradient of the submarine slope dictated the force exerted at the shoreline an erosional force threshold was employed to represent the variable strength of the rocks the model also considered tidal range the time that the water level spent at each intertidal elevation and the protective effect of debris accumulation at the cliff foot three hundred runs were made with constant sea level and with different rates of rising and falling relative sea level rates of erosion increased with the rate of rising and falling sea level but eventually decreased in some runs with very rapid changes in relative sea level fifty five longer runs were also made with a quaternary sea level model that consisted of 26 glacial cycles representing the period from 2 million to 0 9 million years ago and nine cycles of approximately twice the amplitude and wavelength in the last 0 9 million years these runs were made on a landmass experiencing slow 0 11 mm yr 1 or fast 0 74 mm yr 1 positive or negative changes in the elevation of the land it was found that on rising landmasses erosional coastal terraces are formed during interglacial stages and on subsiding landmasses during glacial stages the number of terraces increased with the rate of uplift and subsidence and with the slope of the hinterland terrace gradient increased with tidal range and decreased with rock resistance the was an inverse relationship between terrace width and the strength of the rock

hydrodynamic constraints and storm wave characteristics on a sub horizontal shore platform few studies of wave processes on shore platforms have addressed the hydrodynamic thresholds that control wave transformation and energy dissipation especially under storm conditions we present results of a field experiment conducted during a storm on a sub horizontal shore platform on the east coast of auckland new zealand small 2 5 times the gravity wave height 0 05 0 33 hz is necessary for waves to propagate onto the platform without breaking on the platform surface the wave height is a direct function of water depth with limiting maximum wave height to water depth ratios of 0 55 and 0 78 at the centre of the platform and cliff toe respectively a relative platform edge submergence water depth water height ratio threshold of 1 1 is identified below which infragravity 0 05 hz wave energy dominates the platform energy spectra and above which gravity waves are dominant infragravity wave height transformation across the platform is governed by the relative platform edge submergence finally the paper describes the first observations of wave setup on a shore platform during the peak of the storm wave setup on the platform at low tide 0 21 m is consistent with measurements from planar sandy beaches but at higher tidal stages the ratio between incident wave height and maximum setup was lower than expected copyright 2014 john wiley sons ltd

modeling the development of wave cut shore platforms abstract a mathematical model was used to investigate the development of wave cut shore platforms with constant sea level the model considered the effects of deep water wave height spectra period and wavelength breaker height and depth breaker type the width and bottom roughness of the surf zone the gradient of the submarine slope an erosional threshold related to the strength of the rocks the number of hours each year in which the water level is at each intertidal elevation and the amount and persistence of the debris at the cliff foot intertidal erosion rates were calculated according to the force of the surf reaching the shoreline whereas submarine erosion rates were determined using a depth decay variable each of the two hundred and fifty model runs consisted of 300 000 iterations platform width increased and gradient progressively decreased through model runs and states of static equilibrium were attained by the end of one hundred and nine runs when the wave induced force at each point in the intertidal zone had became too weak to continue eroding the rock runs with mesotidal spring tidal range 3 m generally produced subhorizontal platforms with cliff platform junctions at the mean low water neap tidal level a greater variety of profiles was produced in runs with macrotidal spring tidal ranges 9 m although almost 30 of these runs produced gently sloping platforms with average gradients of only 0 3 about two thirds of the simulated profiles had average gradients ranging from about 1 to 3 simulated platform width increased with tidal range and decreased with the rate of submarine erosion rock resistance the roughness or irregularity of the platform surface the amount and persistence of the cliff foot debris and wave period because higher waves break in deeper water than lower waves there was no consistent relationship between simulated platform width and wave height

natural long term annealing of the zircon fission track system in vienna basin deep borehole samples constraints upon the partial annealing zone and closure temperature abstract fission track ft analysis of zircon from cretaceous and tertiary sandstone samples in vienna basin boreholes has provided constraints for the thermal stability of the zircon ft system over a geological timescale confined track lengths and ages were measured for samples from depths of 1 5 7 5 km the deepest with a present environmental temperature of 200 c mean track lengths range from 10 3 to 10 8 m indistinguishable within error from the unannealed reference length of 10 7 0 1 m 1 standard error thus showing no sign of systematic downhole reduction central zircon ages are consistently older than stratigraphic ages of parent rocks with no single grain ages significantly younger than their respective stratigraphic ages such ft age and length evidence strongly suggests that the tracks have not been significantly annealed since sediment deposition because the present geothermal regime as well as sample burial depths have been near constant for at least the past 5 m y the lower temperature limit of the zircon ft partial annealing zone is 200 c for a heating duration of the order of 5 10 m y such evidence from long term natural annealing is compatible with a zircon ft partial annealing zone cf 200 350 c derived by the extrapolation of laboratory annealing results based on onfined track length measurements but cannot alone discriminate between different annealing models for the zircon ft closure temperature a perhaps over simplified concept these results are consistent with the oft quoted temperature of 250 c for cooling rates of 10 100 c m y

micro erosion meter measurements of rock wear on the otway coast of southeast australia abstract the use of the micro erosion meter mem has been refined by providing 1 a base plate on which to check the relationship of legs and probe and 2 a micrometer level to check the relationships of the three studs countersunk in the rock at each site along 50 km of the otway coast lines of mem stations were installed across shore platforms normal to the shore and surveyed to mean low water readings were made bimonthly from 1978 to 1980 average site downwear ranged from 0 02 to 1 8 mm yr 1 according to rock type and the amount of exposure to the almost continuous swell waves the results of this study combined with other information available are used to discuss the origin and evolution of otway coastal morphologies

thermochronological analysis of the dynamics of the southern alps new zealand the isotopic ages of material exposed close to the alpine fault in the southern alps new zealand vary in a consistent fashion along the orogen for the k ar system muscovite and biotite ages display two distinct spatial trends that meet in the area of fox glacier where a strong relationship is observed between k ar age and altitude excess argon is present in samples between mount kinnaird and haast pass in the southwest of the southern alps giving unrealistically old inconsistent k ar ages across this region incorporation of excess argon appears to be highly variable however and minimization of its influence on dynamical interpretations of thermochronology is possible through considering only the youngest age from a given area such treatment indicates that excess argon contamination does not play an important role in the systematic k ar age variation identified along the southern alps the observed age distribution is consistent with estimates of the modern rapid uplift and exhumation of the southern alps beginning ca 5 ma k ar mica ages older than this south of the copland valley indicate that substantial late cenozoic exhumation occurred along the southern alps prior to the development of the modern tectonic regime but at rates lower than at present total exhumation during the current phase of tectonism in the southern alps decreases from the whataroa river southward north of fox glacier the southern alps have attained a dynamical steady state such that the observed distribution of exhumation will not change significantly with further deformation and denudation under current conditions

middle jurassic turtles from the sichuan basin china a review the turtle fauna of the middle jurassic xiashaximiao formation in the sichuan basin and the type series of chengyuchelys baenoides young chow 1953 are revised by the absence of a mesoplastron and other shell characters both the holotype and paratype of chengyuchelys baenoides belong to the family xinjiangchelyidae and come probably from the upper jurassic shangshaximiao formation the middle jurassic turtle assemblage of the sichuan basin is composed of two entities the bashuchelyidae fam nov bashuchelys gen nov chuannanchelys gen nov and protoxinjiangchelys gen nov on the one hand and sichuanchelys on the other hand with the former as the dominant group bashuchelyids and xinjiangchelyids are closely related to one another while sichuanchelys is more primitive and has no shared apomorphic features with bashuchelyids the whole assemblage appears to be endemic to the sichuan basin at genus level and distinct from the late jurassic turtle fauna of the same basin in its relict nature and absence of the polycryptodira

development of shore platforms on kaikoura peninsula south island new zealand ii the role of subaerial weathering the role of subaerial weathering in the development of shore platforms on kaikoura peninsula is investigated evidence for weathering came from a number of distinctive surface morphologies on platforms salt crystal growth water layer weathering and slaking schmidt hammer test data showed that weathering had occurred and that rock strength was reduced through weathering by as much as 50 weathering processes on shore platforms rely on repeated wetting and drying and for this reason the number of wetting and drying cycles was estimated it was found that the number of wetting and drying cycles depend not only on the pattern of tidal water levels but also on algae growth and desiccation the number of cycles ranged from 104 to 379 per year at elevations low in the tide range fewer cycles occurred the greatest number occurring between the peaks of spring and neap tides and where rainfall adds to the number the zone of most cycles was estimated to occur between 0 6 and 0 9 m above mean sea level on the more landward margins of platforms it is at these elevations that the highest rates of erosion occur based on these results it is argued that the development of shore platforms at kaikoura results from subaerial weathering caused by repeated wetting and drying this is contrary to the view that shore platforms result from marine erosion

towards an improved understanding of erosion rates and tidal notch development on limestone coasts in the tropics 10 years of micro erosion meter measurements phang nga bay thailand knowledge and understanding of shore platform erosion and tidal notch development in the tropics and subtropics relies mainly on short term studies conducted on recently deposited carbonate rocks predominantly holocene and quaternary reef limestones and aeolianites this paper presents erosion rates measured over a 10 year period on notches and platforms developed on the permian ratburi limestone at phang nga bay thailand in so doing it contributes to informing a particular knowledge gap in our understanding of the erosion dynamics of shore platform and tidal notch development in the tropics and subtropics notch erosion rates on relatively hard ancient limestones measured directly on the rock surface using a micro erosion meter mem over time periods of a decade or more the average intertidal erosion rate of 0 231 mm yr is lower than erosion rates measured over 2 3 years on recent weaker carbonate rocks average erosion rates at phang nga vary according to location and site and are in rank order from highest to lowest mid platform 0 324 mm yr notch floor 0 289 mm yr rear notch wall 0 228 mm yr lower platform 0 140 mm yr notch roof 0 107 mm yr and supratidal 0 095 mm yr the micro relief of the eroding rock surfaces in each of these positions exhibits marked differences that are seemingly associated with differences in dominant physical and bio erosion processes the results begin to help inform knowledge of longer term shore platform erosion dynamics models of marine notch development and have implications for the use of marine notches as indicators of changes in sea level and the duration of past sea levels copyright 2014 john wiley sons ltd

new insights on the relative contributions of coastal processes and tectonics to shore platform development following the kaikōura earthquake we describe the immediate impact of the 14 november 2016 kaikoura magnitude 7 8 mw earthquake on shore platforms and cliffs around kaikoura peninsula the earthquake caused an instantaneous uplift of 1 01 m of the peninsula we resurveyed 7 profiles previously used for erosion monitoring and observed changes in the configuration of the shoreline the coseismic uplift has fundamentally changed the process regime operating on the platforms and altered the future trajectory of shore platform and cliff development our observations highlight the interplay of waves weathering biology and tectonics at this location tectonism strongly modulates the process regime driving instantaneous changes in morphology and altering rates and patterns of erosion finally the uplift of the kaikoura coast has implications for changing resilience to climate change and sea level rise

upper quaternary marine terrace chronology and deformation south taranaki new zealand an extensive flight of late quaternary marine terraces in the south taranaki region of the north island of new zealand is dated using fission track radiocarbon and amino acid racemization methods a simple model of terrace deformation based on a doming type uplift pattern allows terrace strandline ages to be estimated twelve strandlines are recognized and are estimated to have formed during high sea level stands at 60 000 80 000 100 000 120 000 135 000 210 000 310 000 340 000 400 000 450 000 520 000 600 000 and 680 000 yr b p

storm wave currents boulder movement and shore platform development a case study from east lothian scotland article i nfo understanding the distribution of wave energy on shore platforms is important for models of the long term development of both shore platforms and backing cliffs little is known however of the magnitude of the wave currents generated on shore platforms in storms this study uses the distribution of boulders of different sizes on a shore platform on the north sea coast of scotland to investigate patterns of storm wave current velocities in storms over the last 40 240 yr blocks as large as 9 m 3

measuring erosion with the micro erosion meter contributions to understanding landform evolution abstract we review the contribution made to understanding landform evolution through the use of the micro erosion meter mem and the variant the traversing micro erosion meter tmem the mem has allowed the direct measurement of bedrock erosion in terrestrial and coastal settings as well as of building stone as recorded in mem measurements world wide the average rate of surface lowering on shore platforms is 1 486 mm a 1 and on terrestrial rock surfaces measured lowering rates are on average 0 903 mm a 1 reported means obscure significant variation in rates from a range of environmental settings and lithologies the mem has in a number of examples allowed the identification of the contribution of individual processes in polygenetic settings particularly in shore platform studies the dynamic nature of rock weathering has been highlighted where the tmem has revealed rock surfaces swelling and contracting at time scales ranging from hours to years the mem will continue to provide useful data on erosion rates and processes but the most fruitful investigations will be those that combine the t mem with other techniques that transcend time and space scale issues in erosion and process measurement

modelling the effect of waves weathering and beach development on shore platform development a mathematical model was used to study shore platform development mechanical wave erosion was dependent on such variables as tidal range wave height and period breaker height and depth breaker type surf zone width and bottom roughness submarine gradient rock resistance and the elevational frequency of wave action within the intertidal zone also included were the effects of sand and pebble accumulation cliff height and debris mobility and downwearing associated with tidal wetting and drying the occurrence location and thickness of beaches often depended on initially quite minor variations in platform morphology but owing to their abrasive or protective effect on underlying rock surfaces they were able to produce marked differences in platform morphology generalizations are difficult but the model suggests that platform gradient increases with tidal range platform width also increases with tidal range with slow downwearing but it decreases with fast downwearing platform gradient decreases and width increases with wave energy and decreasing rock resistance and platform roughness with low tidal range platform gradient is generally lower and platform width greater with beaches of fine sand than with gravel but the relationship is more variable with a high tidal range platform width increases and platform gradient decreases with the rate of downwearing on bare surfaces particularly in low tidal range environments but the pattern is less clear on beach covered platforms platforms with large amounts of beach sediment tend to be narrower and steeper than bare platform surfaces platform gradient increases and platform width decreases with increasing cliff height and with decreasing cliff debris mobility copyright 2005 john wiley sons ltd

towards zircon fission track thermochronology reference framework for confined track length measurements abstract horizontal confined track hct lengths and angles to the crystallographic c axis were measured for both unannealed spontaneous and induced fission tracks ft in zircons to establish a reference framework of hct length measurement induced track lengths were analysed on eleven zircon separates from various rock types including four age standards and spontaneous lengths on three zircon standards were analysed in general the observed hct lengths in each sample are slightly anisotropic with shorter tracks having greater angles to the c axis in addition all samples show large anisotropy in the number of observed hct s particularly for induced tracks as an observed mean hct length is controlled by the combined influence of these two anisotropies selective measurement of tracks that have specified azimuth angles to the c axis e g 60 90 is recommended in annealing studies or thermochronological applications mean spontaneous and induced hct lengths of 60 90 are approximately concordant for individual age standards although slightly controlled by the difference in overetching effects due to the different etching criteria adopted this indicates that natural track annealing at an ambient surface temperature at geological timescales is negligible in zircon in contrast to the case in apatite mean lengths of induced hct s do not differ significantly between the zircons analysed therefore the overall mean and standard deviation values of hct lengths for 60 90 azimuth angles i e 10 50 0 04 1 standard error m and 0 76 0 03 m for spontaneous tracks and 10 73 0 04 and 0 63 0 03 m for induced tracks respectively offer reliable references for hct length measurement in zircon ft thermochronology

shore platform abrasion in a para periglacial environment galicia northwestern spain abstract the schmidt rock test hammer was used to study the effect of abrasion on shore platforms in galicia northwestern spain on platforms where tidally induced weathering salt wetting and drying etc is dominant rock strength is significantly lower than in areas where abrasion is or has been active in the recent past this suggests that abrasion removes weathered surface material exposing the stronger less weathered rock below abrasion downwearing measured with a transverse micro erosion meter ranged between 0 13 and 1 8 mm yr 1 over the last year most active abrasion occurs in the upper part of the intertidal zone but weathering is slowly destroying formerly abraded surfaces at lower elevations these abandoned surfaces were abraded by materials supplied by erosion of fluvio nival and periglacial slope deposits that covered or partially covered parts of the galician coast during the middle and late weichselian during the holocene rising sea level and erosion of the slope deposits caused the abrasion zone to gradually migrate up to its present position near the high tidal level the spatial and temporal role of abrasion on this coast is therefore closely associated with the exhumation and inheritance of ancient platform surfaces from beneath weichselian deposits

morphotectonics of the gorringe bank summit eastern atlantic ocean based on high resolution multibeam bathymetry abstract high resolution swath bathymetry of the gorringe bank located along the europe africa obliquely convergent plate boundary offshore sw portugal allowed investigation of its shallow depth morphotectonic structure as a contribution to understanding the interplay of sea level changes and active deformation of the region dominant ene wsw to nne wsw and subordinate nw se trending morphologic alignments were mapped on the digital terrain model dtm built from multibeam data for both the gettysburg and ormonde summits of the bank based on appraisal of regional structural and seismological data the dominant and subordinate sets are interpreted to reflect dip slip to left oblique reverse faults and normal faults or dyke like joints respectively several terrace remnants were mapped on the dtm and were grouped into five orders at depths ranging from 40 to 120 m morphological features suggest that the terraces were formed in a coastal environment likely during middle late pleistocene sea level changes the terraces are probably polycyclic implying minor vertical tectonic motion however the whole terrace set except the deeper and younger one which was mainly shaped during the lgm lowstand is consistently up to 10 m lower at ormonde in the east relative to gettysburg in the west suggesting displacement across a nne ssw striking fault mapped in the saddle between the two seamounts the structure assemblage is argued to represent the shallow splay system of a crustal scale fault ramp underlying the bank the ene wsw reverse faults have a southward polarity and together with the overall northwest tilt of the bank point to displacement toward the horseshoe abyssal plain to the south at least at upper crustal levels

the tectonic evolution of the southern alps new zealand insights from fully thermally coupled dynamical modelling summary we present here the results of numerical models of the southern alps in which the thermal and dynamical developments of the orogen are fully coupled to one another this interlinkage allows the use of a wide range of thermal and physical features of the orogen as constraints on the applicability of our models in particular the thermal aspect of this method enables the prediction of the distribution of thermochronological ages at the surface of the model perturbation of the geothermal structure due to rapid uplift and exhumation causes an intrinsic weakening and concentration of strain along the equivalent of the alpine fault zone in these models this thermal weakening of the crust also produces a zone of high strain antithetic to the alpine fault in the upper crust that is comparable to the main divide fault zone within the southern alps the introduction of orographic rainfall and erosional processes into the model leads to the development of high asymmetric topography comparable to that of the southern alps this topographic profile results from the capture of available precipitation by the windward side of the orogen and the resultant rain shadow on the leeward side due to the time required to accumulate suycient topography for this rain capture evect to become significant the establishment of this high asymmetric topography lags the initiation of surface uplift by several million years comparison of the observed thermal history of the southern alps with that seen in models based on divering hypotheses of the tectonic evolution of the south island shows that the present tectonic regime of the orogen most probably developed in a single rapid reorganization of plate motions at approximately 5 ma with relative stability of the tectonic regime since that time the variation in isotopic ages along the southern alps is consistent with that expected from variation in accumulated uplift and exhumation along the orogen arising from the obliquity of convergence of the australian and pacific plates

reconstructions of the new zealand region for the neogene abstract the major structural elements of the present day plate boundary zone through new zealand are a subduction zone under the northern half of the country linked by a wide transform zone to the southward extension of the plate boundary through fiordland and the macquarie ridge using finite rotations of the pacific australian plate pair a sequence of reconstructions of the relative positions of the plates is presented reconstructions of the plate boundary zone based on paleomagnetic data involve essentially the same structural elements as today but with large clockwise changes in their trend with time

rates and patterns of erosion on inter tidal shore platforms kaikoura peninsula south island new zealand this paper presents measured rates of erosion on shore platforms at kaikoura peninsula south island new zealand surface lowering rates were measured with a micro erosion meter and traversing micro erosion meter the mean lowering rate for all shore platforms was 1 130 mm a 1 differences in lowering rates were found between different platform types and lithologies the rate of surface lowering on type a sloping mudstone platforms was 1 983 mm a 1 and 0 733 mm a 1 on type b mudstone platforms subhorizontal on limestone platforms the lowering rate was 0 875 mm a 1 a previously reported cross shore pattern of surface lowering rates from kaikoura was not found rates were generally higher on the landward margins and decreased in a seaward direction season is shown statistically to influence erosion rates with higher rates during summer than winter the interpretation given to this is that the erosive process is subaerial weathering in the form of wetting and drying and salt weathering this is contrary to views of shore platform development that have favoured marine processes over subaerial weathering copyright 1998 john wiley sons ltd

systematic analysis of rocky shore platform morphology at large spatial scale using lidar derived digital elevation models abstract much of the existing research on rocky shore platforms describes results from carefully selected field sites or comparisons between a relatively small number of selected sites here we describe a method to systematically analyse rocky shore morphology over a large area using lidar derived digital elevation models the method was applied to 700 km of coastline in southwest england a region where there is considerable variation in wave climate and lithological settings and a large alongshore variation in tidal range across shore profiles were automatically extracted at 50 m intervals around the coast where information was available from the coastal channel observatory coastal classification routines were developed to automatically remove non platform profiles the remaining 612 shore platform profiles were then subject to automated morphometric analyses and correlation analysis in respect to three possible environmental controls wave height mean spring tidal range and rock strength as expected considerable scatter exists in the correlation analysis because only very coarse estimates of rock strength and wave height were applied whereas variability in factors such as these can locally be the most important control on shoreline morphology in view of this it is somewhat surprising that overall consistency was found between previous published findings and the results from the systematic automated analysis of lidar data platform gradient increases as rock strength and tidal range increase but decreases as wave height increases platform width increases as wave height and tidal range increase but decreases as rock strength increases previous studies have predicted shore platform gradient using tidal range alone a multi regression analysis of lidar data confirms that tidal range is the strongest predictor but a new multi factor empirical model considering tidal range wave height and rock strength yields better predictions of shore platform gradient root mean square error of predictions reduced by 5 the key finding of this study is that large scale semi automated morphometric analyses have the potential to reveal dominant process controls in the face of small scale local variability

modelling the development of dynamic equilibrium on shore platforms abstract a numerical model was used to determine whether the landward migration of shore platforms at the low tidal level due to downwearing and possibly other mechanisms can match the recession caused by wave erosion at the high tidal level the hybrid model calculated the time required to undercut a cliff face and to remove the debris and the amount of recession accomplished at the low tidal level during that time these iterations were repeated over the equivalent of a 40 000 year period the rates of high tidal erosion calculated during model runs were representative of cliff recession rates recorded in the field and downwearing rates specified for each run were based on data recorded on shore platforms with micro erosion meters almost all runs demonstrated that platform gradients decline asymptotically to a state of dynamic equilibrium that is strongly related to tidal range and rock resistance although its relationship to wave height varies according to attenuation rates in the surf zone periodic changes in rock resistance and continuous changes in cliff height can introduce perturbations that delay equilibrium or depending on their severity prevent its occurrence the conclusion that platforms trend towards dynamic as opposed to static equilibrium is contrary to other models which have considered only the effect of wave erosion the results of this work have important implications for coastal modelling and the estimation of platform lowering for cosmogenic dating

evolution and inheritance of a rock coast western galicia northwestern spain there is increasing evidence that shore platforms and other elements of rock coasts may be inherited at least in part from interglacial stages when sea level was similar to today s most of this evidence which includes ancient beaches and datable terrestrial deposits has been obtained from areas of resistant slowly eroding rock where the platforms often appear to be much too wide to have developed since the sea reached its present level it is much more dif cult to demonstrate that inheritance has occurred in areas of weaker rock which generally lack any datable material the coast of western galicia in northwestern spain has shore platforms in igneous and metamorphic rocks that were deeply weathered during the tertiary these platforms are closely associated with ancient beaches from the last interglacial stage and associated periglacial and uvio nival deposits that covered and fossilized most of the eemian platforms and cliffs during the late middle and late weichselian glacial stage the sedimentary processes and the thickness and facies of the sediments were determined by the height aspect and gradient of the coastal mountains and their distance from the coast radiocarbon dating sedimentary analysis and platform morphology indicate that the shore platforms of galicia have been inherited from at least the last interglacial stage they were fossilized in places beneath thick weichselian deposits and then exhumed during the holocene transgression the abundant evidence for inheritance in galicia has important implications for other coasts in fairly weak rocks where such evidence is generally lacking copyright 2003 john wiley sons ltd

development of shore platforms on kaikoura peninsula south island new zealand abstract the role of waves in shore platform development has been investigated on kaikoura peninsula by direct measurement of waves in deep water and on platforms at high tide this showed that the deepwater wave environment off the kaikoura peninsula is very energetic but the amount of energy delivered to platforms is very low in deep water wave power ranged from 5900 to 106 700 n m s 1 per m of crest when calculated from mean significant wave height and when calculated from maximum wave height it ranged from 31 400 to 5 370 000 n m s 1 per m of crest a comparison of deep water wave energy flux with wave energy flux at the high tide cliff of platforms showed that there was a reduction by as much as five orders of magnitude during storm conditions an analysis of the role of breaking waves revealed that these are ineffective as an erosional agent because the depth of water offshore causes breaking before waves arrive on platform surfaces depth of water controlling wave breaking causes larger storm waves to break further from shore preventing direct attack at the cliff base shear stresses and dynamic forces under waves were calculated from waves measured on shore platforms this showed that these forces never exceeded the compressive strength of the platform rocks at kaikoura it is concluded that wave forces are not directly capable of causing erosion on shore platforms at kaikoura

modelling the effect of pliocene quaternary changes in sea level on stable and tectonically active land masses a mathematical model was used to examine the effect of pliocene and quaternary changes in sea level on the development of tectonically active and inactive rock coasts the model calculated rates of mechanical wave erosion according to such factors as the deep water wave regime bottom topography and surface roughness and the resistance of the rocks subaerial terraces were truncated or eliminated by subsequent terrace formation at lower elevations especially on steeply sloping landmasses experiencing slow rates of uplift submarine terraces formed during glacial stillstands were best preserved when rapid subsidence quickly carried them below the level of wave action on slowly subsiding landmasses submarine terraces formed during interglacials and glacial periods experienced repeated erosional modification during subsequent periods of rising and falling sea level and were generally less distinctive on rapidly rising or subsiding 5 mm yr 1 landmasses terraces that formed during interglacial stages alternated above and below present sea level with terraces formed during glacial stages despite some differences in terrace occurrence and elevational distribution it may be difficult to distinguish profiles cut during accelerating or decelerating uplift the amount of erosion during sea level oscillations increases with oscillation amplitude and the larger oscillations in the middle to late quaternary were therefore more conducive to erosion than the smaller oscillations of the pliocene and early quaternary the effect of oscillation amplitude may have been countered during the earlier stages of profile development however by steeper submarine gradients and reduced rates of wave attenuation copyright 2014 john wiley sons ltd

sea saltwater weakening of chalk and the impact on cliff instability chalk forms one of the major coastal cliff formations throughout northwest europe with large population centres and critical infrastructure being exposed to and at risk from cliff collapses in this rock type traditionally the two main factors leading to chalk cliff collapse have been considered to be i waves attacking and eroding the base of the cliff and ii water weakening as the chalk becomes saturated this work challenges the established view by identifying the role of salt from seawater in the degradation of porous rocks in coastal environments as a third and potentially the most important mechanism leading to chalk cliff collapse field and laboratory investigations have identified and quantified the role of sea saltwater weakening of chalk in coastal environments a series of triaxial strength tests have identified that coastal chalks are up to 55 weaker than their inland equivalents this weakening process is as a result of saltwater ingress into the chalk sem imaging has shown that seawater penetrates the porous chalk and the salt progressively concentrates forming salt crystals which disrupt the pore structure and weakening the rock material which then leads to catastrophic cliff failure saltwater weakening of cliffs could be one of the main factors leading to large and small scale collapses observed along the chalk coast line and is likely to be the primary reason for the increasing frequency of cliff failures along protected coastal sections as the sea salt progressively concentrates in the cliff reducing its mechanical strength rock strength is not usually considered to be temporally variable and is therefore rarely considered in relation to climate change however this is not true of soft rocks like chalk which weaken and collapse in short time periods as they are exposed to external factors

the continental collision zone south island new zealand comparison of geodynamical models and observations the south island zone of oblique continent continent convergence occurs along a 400 km long section of the modern australia pacific plate boundary zone across which about 50 km of shortening has been accommodated since about 10 ma the orogen comprises a central mountain range southern alps flanked on both sides by what are interpreted to be foreland basins two essential features that characterize the orogen are 1 the degree of denudation that accompanied deformation and 2 a fundamental structural asymmetry the architectural asymmetry of the orogen can be explained by plane strain finite element models of continental convergence incorporating mantle subduction comparison of model and orogen polarity implies that pacific plate mantle subducts the models predict two crustal scale dipping shear zones that form above the point where the pacific mantle subducts the localized one more distant from the incoming plate retro step up shear zone corresponds to the alpine fault whereas its conjugate pro step up shear zone corresponds to the distributed strain and thrusting along the eastern margin of the mountain belt parameters that modify the model boundary conditions top surface degree of denudation basal zone subduction load crust mantle velocity discontinuity subduction of lower crust mantle retreat and distributed decrease in mantle velocity and the internal strength of the crust two layer crust with moderate coupling temperature distribution strain weakening are varied in a series of numerical model calculations that establish the combination of material properties and boundary conditions that lead to different cross sectional architectures of the modeled collision zone in turn these are compared with observations about the south island orogen the calculations show how the style and extent of deformation across the whole orogen depend on the rheological properties of the crustal layer and on the balance between its internal strength and the combined effects of the boundary and gravitational stresses north to south along strike differences in the width and two dimensional architecture of the orogen simulated in the experiments by varying the model parameters can be explained by a combination of southward increases in preconvergent crustal thickness geothermal gradient convergence and potentially subduction retreat with the added possibility of a southward decrease in the component of lower crustal subduction

modeling the effect of late quaternary interglacial sea levels on wave cut shore platforms abstract a mathematical wave erosional model was used to study the effect of high sea levels during the penultimate oxygen isotopic stage 7 and last interglacials substage 5e and in the late holocene stage 1 on the present morphology of wave cut shore platforms sea level was considered to have been either the same as today or 2 25 m lower during the penultimate interglacial and 2 25 4 5 or 6 75 m higher than today during the last interglacial stage the model suggested that inherited gently sloping shore platforms in resistant rocks may be essentially protected today from erosion by high storm waves the lowest platform gradients were in runs with mesotidal 3 m range and usually with low wave periods low surf attenuation rates and weak rocks modern platform gradients increased with the difference in elevation between sea levels during successive interglacial stages shore platforms were widest in runs in which sea level was the same as today in the penultimate interglacial and 4 5 m higher than today during the last interglacial constant sea level and high last interglacial sea levels with considerable overlapping between the zones of high duration values between the mean neap high and low tidal levels in stages 7 5e and 1 were conducive to the development of wide shore platforms whereas sea levels lower than today s in stage 7 tended to produce narrower platforms in general higher sea levels during the last interglacial tended to produce higher cliff platform junctions than constant sea level unless the sea was lower than today during the penultimate interglacial stage there was a lack of supratidal ledges in macrotidal 9 m model runs with high initial gradients this suggests that gently sloping inherited shore platforms are essential for the subsequent development of supratidal nonstructural ledges in high tidal environments during periods of higher sea level intertidal ledges developed in the upper portion of the modern intertidal zone under a variety of tidal and sea level conditions these ledges can develop independently of lithological or structural influences and without any change in sea level a single high sea level may also simultaneously produce two ledges at different supratidal elevations in mesotidal environments

annealing kinetics of fission tracks in zircon an experimental study a series of laboratory annealing experiments on zircon fission tracks has been carried out under heating conditions of 350 750 c for 10 1 103 hr i e 4 5 min 40 days variation in the confined lengths of spontaneous fission tracks was determined using zircon grains from nisatai dacite the fading contours of normalized mean track length r on the arrhenius diagram showed as sets of straight lines we performed a series of model fittings called the parallel and fanning models in order to describe the decrease in r with increasing temperature or heating time the lowest temperature limit of the zircon partial annealing zone zpaz was defined as r 0 95 and the highest as r 0 4 which approximately corresponded to the total fading of surface tracks extrapolation of the results of the laboratory experiments to the geological timescale gives for a heating duration of 106 yr estimated values of the zpaz of 210 320 c 60 c 2 with the parallel model 190 350 c 50 c 2 with the fanning model critical temperature t0 and 170 390 c 50 c 2 with the fanning model t0 the temperatures of the zpaz decrease by 20 c for an annealing duration that is an order of magnitude longer because the estimated closure temperature of zircon fission track analysis approximately corresponds to the middle of the zpaz these results support the previously estimated closure temperature of 240 c by varying the etching time it was revealed that significant removal of radiation damage occurs at r 0 93

rates and patterns of bedrock denudation by coastal salt spray weathering a seven year record rapid surface lowering of bedrock is taking place in the supratidal zone by salt spray weathering a seven year run of data demonstrates a mean rate of lowering of 0 625 mm a 1 considerable variation exists in annual point lowering values within measurement sites although between site variation is not significant aggregate year to year variations in surface lowering are not significant spatial variation in individual point values may be compensated by temporal variation over an 11 year period there is a marked summer maximum in surface lowering rate and this is strongly correlated with monthly air temperature spatially and temporally episodic swelling of the rock surface is demonstrated this does not correlate statistically with any available climatic variable and is deemed to be a real and largely stochastic phenomenon it is interpreted as rock bursting at the granular scale due to haloclasty the processes most likely to be responsible for the observed rapid denudation are crystallization and thermal expansion of halite both of which are enhanced by high summer temperatures

dynamics of pacific plate crust in the south island new zealand zone of oblique continent continent convergence here we analyze topographic and fission track data to quantify the response of the surface of the pacific plate in south island new zealand to late cenozoic oblique continental convergence across the alpine fault over the central 350 km length of the southern alps mountain chain we derive and map the rates of mean surface uplift the rates of working associated with mean surface uplift during the late cenozoic mountain building the amounts and rates of denudation and consequent isostatic rebound and the tectonic component of rock uplift the rate of mean surface uplift ranges from 0 3 mm yr over most of the area east of the main divide the highest rates of mean surface uplift occur to the southeast of the regions of highest mean elevation and relief the rate of working against gravity during uplift of the mean surface ranges from 2 5 mw m 2 in the southwest to 10 mw m 2in the central eastern parts of the alps areas of lower mean elevation uplifted most recently have received rates of energy input similar to that of areas of higher mean elevation where uplift started earlier the amount of denudation is large compared with the mean surface uplift and ranges from 18 km adjacent to the alpine fault to 2 km along the southeast margin of the southern alps the rate of denudation ranges from 2 5 to 0 5 mm yr with increasing distance from the alpine fault across the alps to the southeast the amount of isostatic uplift ranges from a maximum of 14 km adjacent to the alpine fault to 2 km along the southeast margin of the alps the tectonic component of uplift varies from 4 km along the alpine fault to 1 km along the eastern margin of the alps

the analysis of last interglacial mis 5e relative sea level indicators reconstructing sea level in a warmer world the last interglacial mis 5e 128 116 ka is among the most studied past periods in earth s history the climate at that time was warmer than today primarily due to different orbital conditions with smaller ice sheets and higher sea level field evidence for mis 5e sea level was reported from thousands of sites but often paleo shorelines were measured with low accuracy techniques and in some cases there are contrasting interpretations about paleo sea level reconstructions for this reason large uncertainties still surround both the maximum sea level attained as well as the pattern of sea level change throughout mis 5e such uncertainties are exacerbated by the lack of a uniform approach to measuring and interpreting the geological evidence of paleo sea levels in this review we discuss the characteristics of mis 5e field observations and we set the basis for a standardized approach to mis 5e paleo sea level reconstructions that is already successfully applied in holocene sea level research application of the standard definitions and methodologies described in this paper will enhance our ability to compare data from different research groups and different areas in order to gain deeper insights into mis 5e sea level changes improving estimates of last interglacial sea level is in turn a key to understanding the behavior of ice sheets in a warmer world

modelling the development of rocky shoreline profiles along the northern coast of ireland abstract a mathematical wave erosion model is used to simulate postglacial shoreline profiles along the rocky high energy coast of the north of ireland the wave erosion model is driven by a suite of relative sea level rsl curves for the last 16 000 years produced from four glacial rebound models multiple runs are performed with different initial shore profiles and rock resistances to investigate shoreline evolution and the significance of inherited morphology on the resultant profile shape the simulated profiles are then compared with mapped profiles from three areas of the north of ireland with different lithological and hydrographic properties modelled profiles generally replicate the overall mean shoreline gradients observed across the region when rock resistance is relatively high and erosion rates correspondingly low in these profiles breaks in mean slope are observed at depths comparable to the rsl minima in several of the rsl scenarios at c 10 m 15 m and 20 m for north antrim derry and donegal respectively at portrush and portballintrae derry profiles may be influenced by structural controls relating to the underlying basalt surface and the removal of overlying glaciogenic sediments all rsl scenarios replicate the observed eastward increase in cliff platform junction height reflecting the differential glacioisostatic rebound experienced along the coast however the precise elevation at which the simulated cliff base occurs is sensitive to the choice of rsl scenario suggesting that this parameter may prove useful in evaluating glacial rebound model performance several of the rsl scenarios generate raised shore platforms or terraces in north antrim and derry at heights comparable to raised shoreline features reported in the literature however no single curve or combination of parameters is capable of generating the range of platform and terrace features observed in the bathymetric and topographic data these misfits are consistent with the idea that many rock platform or terrace features are inherited from an earlier phase or phases of rsl

rb sr and k ar ages on minerals at temperatures of 300 400 c from deep wells in the larderello geothermal field italy rb sr and k ar ages have been obtained on six biotites two muscovites and one hornblende from samples of micaschist gneiss and amphibolite of lower paleozoic to precambrian age at a depth exceeding 2 000 m in basement rocks of the larderello travale geothermal region most of the data cluster in the range 2 5 3 7 ma revealing the existence of a pliocene thermal event to which the origin of the field may be attributed the resulting duration of the larderello geothermal field is unexpectedly long in the basement levels of the two wells examined unstabilized minimum temperatures of 290 and 380 c were measured all the biotites show almost complete 40ar and 87sr retention at the measured well temperatures petrologic evidence stilpnomelane stability and experimental data activation energies and diffusion coefficients also favour a closure temperature above 400 c for rb sr and k ar in biotites in agreement with recent direct experimental determinations

modelling the quaternary evolution of shore platforms and erosional continental shelves a mathematical model was used to investigate the effect of glacially induced fluctuations in sea level on the evolution of wave cut shore platforms and erosional continental shelves during the quaternary the model used two deep water wave sets which were used to calculate breaker height and depth and the force of the waves at the waterline according to the width and bottom roughness of the surf zone and the gradient of the submarine slope the model also incorporated an erosional threshold related to the strength of the rocks the number of hours each year in which the water level is at each intertidal elevation and the amount and persistence of the debris at the cliff foot most runs were made using a sea level model that consisted of 26 glacial cycles from 2 million to 0 9 million years ago and nine of approximately twice the amplitude and wavelength in the last 0 9 million years the model emphasized the dynamic association between the contemporary intertidal platform and the continental shelf both surfaces trend towards a state of static equilibrium under oscillating sea level conditions when attenuated waves are unable to continue eroding the rock if there has not been enough time to reduce the gradient of the shallower portions of the continental shelf however intertidal shore platforms can be in a temporary though possibly long lasting state of dynamic equilibrium the model suggests that most platforms are at least in part inherited from one or in many cases more interglacial stages when sea level was similar to today s copyright 2001 john wiley sons ltd

tidal wetting and drying on shore platforms an experimental assessment abstract rocks were subjected to wetting and drying cycles with de ionized water under real time conditions using tidal simulators one third of the samples experienced 11 h of exposure and 1 h of inundation over a 12 h tidal cycle representing high tidal conditions one third experienced 6 h of exposure and 6 h of inundation representing mid tidal conditions and one third experienced 1 h of exposure and 11 h of inundation representing low tidal conditions we obtained 324 cores from igneous metamorphic and sedimentary rocks from ontario which were exposed to more than 930 wetting and drying cycles over 16 months we obtained 675 cores and cubes from basalts sandstones and argillites from shore platforms in eastern canada which were exposed to about 700 cycles over 12 months many of the cores and cubes experienced very little to no breakdown particularly those from the igneous and metamorphic rocks of ontario sandstones from a sloping platform in the macrotidal bay of fundy and argillites from a horizontal mesotidal platform in gaspe quebec were the most susceptible rock types with equivalent surface downwearing rates ranging from 0 to 4 mm year 1 the results suggest that downwearing rates decrease with elevation within the intertidal zone probably because rocks require much longer to desorb than to absorb water the experiments demonstrated that wetting and drying can be an important process on shore platforms in some types of rock helping to lower the height and reduce the gradient of sloping macrotidal platforms and to reduce the height of horizontal micro and mesotidal platforms

can shore platforms be produced solely by weathering processes field measurements and laboratory experiments provided data on surface downwearing rates on horizontal mesotidal and sloping macrotidal shore platforms in eastern canada the experimental data were used in a simple mathematical model to determine whether weathering acting alone can produce shore platforms the model failed to produce realistic platform profiles it did not account for the relationship in the field between platform gradient and tidal range and downwearing rates were much too low to produce wide platforms in the few thousand years that the sea has been at its present level although weathering undoubtedly plays an important role in the development of shore platforms it cannot by itself account for characteristic differences in platform morphology in different morphogenic environments it seems more likely that platform morphology is the result of mechanical wave erosion controlled by the tidally controlled expenditure of wave energy and some related or independent mechanism that controls weathering efficacy at different tidal elevations according to the tidal range

methods for measuring rock surface weathering and erosion a critical review studies of rates processes and modes of rock surface and near surface deterioration and also hardening are central to rock weathering and building stone research conservation and management there is a need to measure and monitor weathering at the rock atmosphere interface to facilitate understanding of climatic environmental and lithological controls on the evolution and development of surface weathering features this paper reviews long established and recently developed field and laboratory methods used by geomorphologists to monitor and measure the impact of weathering and erosion on physical and mechanical properties of exposed rock surfaces and their immediate subsurface key advances are highlighted their application to multi scalar understanding and modelling of rock surface weathering in different contexts is discussed and potential future advances to provide new insights into rock weathering durability and materials conservation are identified in highlighting key advantages and disadvantages of a wide range of methods to the broader earth science community the paper aims to contribute to further innovative thinking across disciplines to develop new methods for measuring and monitoring rock weathering

patterns of surface downwearing on shore platforms in eastern canada downwearing rates were measured on shore platforms at about 200 transverse micro erosion meter tmem stations over periods ranging from 2 to 6 years there were seven study areas in eastern canada the platforms were surveyed and a schmidt rock test hammer was used to measure rock hardness more than 1200 rock samples from three of the study areas were also subjected each day over a 3 year period to two tidal cycles of immersion and exposure which simulated the central intertidal zone a further 840 samples were subjected to longer periods of exposure and immersion over a 1 year period which represented different elevations within the upper and lower intertidal zone respectively these experiments suggested that tidally generated weathering and debris removal is an effective erosional mechanism particularly at the elevation of the lowest high tides in the field mean rates of downwearing for each study area ranged from 0 24 mm yr 1 to more than 1 5 mm yr 1 rates tended to increase with elevation in the field with maxima in the upper intertidal zone this trend in the field cannot be attributed entirely to the tidally induced weathering processes that were simulated in the laboratory and must reflect in part the effect of waves frost ice and other mechanisms it is concluded that there are no strong spatial downwearing patterns on shore platforms and that downwearing rates in the intertidal zone are the result of a number of erosional mechanisms with different elevation efficacy characteristics furthermore even if only one or two mechanisms were dominant in an area any resulting relationship between downwearing rates and elevation would be obscured or eliminated by the effect of variations in the chemical and physical characteristics of the rocks copyright 2010 john wiley sons ltd

geomorphology and clast assemblages of intertidal beachrock implications for submerged shoreline preservation abstract beachrock may be considered a reliable indicator of sea level in addition to a reliable and recognizable source for onshore movement of beachrock clasts by overwash processes associated with extreme events key to this is its geomorphology and preservation potential both of which are poorly understood here we examine the processes and deposits associated with beachrock breakdown from camurupim ne brazil and compare its preservation to beachrocks found on continental shelves in south africa we study a prominent and continuous 50 60 m wide beachrock complex that crops out along a 10 km stretch of coastline and which mostly comprises 1 5 to 2 m thick trough crossbedded sandstones these have generated large joint bounded blocks that have been transported landwards under extreme energy conditions based on numerical modelling and comparisons to the contemporary wave climate tabular clasts have accumulated as isolated very coarse boulders on the seaward margin small clasts in various topographic traps boulder ridges with large landward and seaward dipping clasts on the uppermost part of the outcrop and subaqueous and subaerial washover fans isolated fine meso boulders emplaced during extreme waves hs ca 12 m exhibit fitted textures and pressure solution contacts pointing to subsequent rocking and shaking smaller clasts in boulder ridges and overwash settings are initially liberated and transported by waves within the annual decadal frequency spectrum deposited on the high points of the outcrop subsequent movement during less extreme wave action progressively transports the clasts across the surface where they are often trapped in the fitted fabric on top of the platform our breakdown model and overall beachrock preservation scheme is consistent with reported seismic signatures of submerged holocene beachrock shorelines beachrock preservation during transgression is strongly influenced by the original sedimentary facies thick trough crossbedded joint bound clasts preserve the former shoreline clasts from the planar units accumulate as washover fans to landwards of the ridge