impacts of relative sea level rise on the shoreface deposition shuidong bay south china the influence of relative sea level rise on shoreface deposition helps to elucidate changes in beach and nearshore geomorphology in response to different forcing factors in this study two sets of sediment samples one from 1982 and one from 2004 from the shuidong bay of south china were analyzed to determine the changes in shoreface depositions an eof empirical orthogonal function method was used to examine how these depositions changed based on the relative sea level rise the results show that shoreface sediments of shuidong bay are mainly composed of sand fine grained sediments are distributed in the lower shoreface offshore area and coarse grained sediments are mainly found in the upper shoreface nearshore area due to the altered hydrological forcing caused by relative sea level rise the sand fraction in sediments increased from 84 7 in 1982 to over 90 in 2004 and the clay and silt fractions decreased from 11 8 in 1982 to 5 6 in 2004 grain size parameters in sediments in 2004 became coarser slightly more well sorted less skewed and had lower kurtosis than those in 1982 in addition the shoreface deposition of shuidong in 1982 and 2004 is distinctly different a polarized mode was described by the first eigenfunctions and a homogenized mode was described by the second eigenfunctions the former means that the sediment components developed towards the two opposite poles undergoing both coarsening and refining processes the second mode indicates that the secondary variation in sediment components was mostly in the three intermediate grained sand components in the future the shuidong bay shoreface may be subjected to even further erosion because of increases in the energy of the environment resulting from rapid relative sea level rise

vertical sequence and lateral transitions in the facies of a barred nearshore environment abstract nine tube cores 7 cm in diameter and up to 150 cm long from a nearshore crescentic bar in kouchibouguac bay new brunswick canada reveal the vertical sequence and lateral transitions of facies previously identified only in shallow box cores the facies are a inner shelf shoreface transition bioturbated fine sands and silts with remnant primary structures b seaward slope planar lamination in medium to fine sands dipping gently seaward and composite bed sets of planar to ripple cross lamination in fine sand chevron lamination is rare c bar crest low angle planar lamination dipping both landward and seaward and medium scale trough cross lamination in medium to coarse sands d landward slope planar lamination dipping landward with small scale la dward dipping trough cross lamination occasionally small to medium scale trough cross lamination is found with seaward dips e trough massively bedded lags of coarse gravelly sands with abundant shell fragments contrast with isolated very thin units of massive silt and units of well sorted sands the latter display subhorizontal planar lamination and small to medium scale trough cross lamination polymodal dips indicate bed form migration landward alongshore and offshore vertical sequences and lateral transitions seaward of the bar crest suggest that three wedge shaped units inner shelf shoreface transition seaward slope bar crest interdigitate in an offlap onlap sequence to landward the trough and landward slope facies interfinger complexly while the crest facies forms a simple onlap over landward slope facies total reworking of sediments within the bar trough system is expected every 5 to 6 years and long term preservation is limited to the inner shelf shoreface transition seaward slope and trough facies

shoreline deposits and diagenesis resulting from two late pleistocene highstands near 5 and 6 metres durban south africa in exposures of pleistocene rocks on the east coast of south africa eight sedimentary facies were distinguished on the basis of petrology grain size internal structures and field relationships these are interpreted as deposits of surf zone breaker zone swash zone backbeach boulder beach and dune environments three phases of deposition and diagenesis are recognized as a result of the stabilising effect of pre existing coastal facies the deposits from successive sea level stands are stacked vertically in a narrow coast normal strip early cementation prevented erosion of the deposits during subsequent transgressions deposition of subsequent facies took place on an existing coastal dune facies 1 a terrace was cut into this dune at a sea level 4 5 to 5 m above present at this sea level clastic shoreline sediments were deposited which make up the main sedimentary sequence exposed facies 2 7 the steep swash zone coarse grain size and comparison with modern conditions in the study area indicate clastic deposition on a high energy wave dominated microtidal coastline vertical stacking of progressively shallower water facies indicates progradation associated with slightly regressive conditions prior to stranding of the succession above sea level during a subsequent transgression to 5 5 or 6 m above present sea level a second terrace was cut across the existing facies which by then were partly lithified a boulder beach facies 8 deposited on this terrace is indicative of high wave energy and a rocky coastline formed by existing cemented coastal facies comparison with dated deposits from other parts of the south african coast suggest a late pleistocene age for facies 2 8 deposition was terminated by subsequent regression and continuing low sea levels during the remainder of the pleistocene cementation of the facies took place almost entirely by carbonate precipitation the presence of isopachous fibrous cements suggests early cementation of facies 1 2 3 and 4 under marine conditions initially as aragonite which has since inverted to calcite facies 5 6 and 7 are cemented only by equant calcite spar evidence of cementation in the meteoric phreatic and vadose zones lowering of the water table during regression caused the remaining pore space in facies 1 2 3 and 4 to be filled with equant calcite spar decementation in a 130 cm wide zone is attributed to water table shifts associated with the later transgression which deposited facies 8 the vertical stacking of the two depositional sequences may be attributed to rapid cementation of facies 2 3 4 5 6 and 7 under humid subtropical conditions this lithified sequence then acted as a focus for deposition of coarse grained shoreline facies facies 8 during the subsequent transgression

holocene coastal dune formation in southern australia a case study abstract the 14 500 km long southern australian coast is exposed to high energy wave and wind regimes which have mobilized shelf derived sediments to produce extensive holocene shoreface deposits the 8000 km of sandy coast are backed by over 2000 km 2 of holocene dunes of varying degrees of stability in places dune deposition above present sea level accompanied the post glacial marine transgression commencing as early as 10 ka b p and has continued episodically to the present day the dunes are widespread in extent but vary in type size and evolution the oldest and often most extensive primary dune fields accompanied the post glacial marine transgression they occurred and in some places continue to form in areas of high wave and wind energy and abundant sand supply many of these systems exhausted their sediment supply by mid holocene and remain as stranded clifftop dunes where sand ramps were eroded or as eroding barriers secondary phases of dune activity occurred on moderate to high energy coasts following an initial period of post stillstand barrier progradation diminished sediment supply resulted in shoreline erosion and secondary dune formation the location size and evolution both of dunes types is largely controlled by the breaker wave regime which in turn influences the rate and volume of sediment supply beach morphodynamics and resulting aerodynamic boundary conditions and foredune erosion a study of dune formation along the 3700 km long south australian coast provides a basis for an overview of dune formation throughout southern australia

morphodynamic evolution of a coastal lagoon entrance during swash overwash new field observations of beach berm growth resulting in the sub aerial closure of an intermittently closed and open lake or lagoon are presented these perched estuarine systems frequently exhibit ephemeral entrances that respond to process forcing almost instantaneously on a geomorphic timescale with closure by a supra tidal berm of depositional origin the observations were made following a mechanical opening of the entrance and show very rapid vertical growth of an initially low beach berm as a result of swash overtopping and sediment overwash very little simultaneous seaward progradation was observed sediment overwash volumes were obtained from survey data over a period of 12 days either side of spring tide and the observations also provide an accurate measure of swash sediment transport at the berm crest a process based parametric model is developed through robust parameterisations of wave run up wave run up distributions and sediment transport and is applied to predict the total overwash transport into and infilling the estuary entrance the model is tested against the field data and compares well with the observations while the field data are site specific the proposed modelling framework represents a first step in modelling the complex growth and recovery of natural beach berms in broad scale morphodynamic models

depositional facies of high energy beach to offshore sequence comparison with low energy sequence a study of the nearshore zone and continental shelf of a high energy coast was made in the ventura port hueneme area of california during the summer of 1974 to investigate depositional facies characteristics and compare them with similar facies from a low energy coastal setting analysis of box cores can cores and vibracores permits recognition of three principal zones 1 nearshore facies backshore to 9 m water depth made up primarily of parallel ripple and cross bedded clean sand bioturbation is only locally significant 2 transition facies 9 to 18 m water depth a zone of fine sand and silty sand characterized by an increase in biogenic over physical sedimentary structures that are commonly preserved as laminated to burrowed beds wave ripple bedding and parallel lamination are important structures in this facies 3 offshore facies 18 m water depth sandy silt is the primary texture and bioturbation is the dominant sedimentary structure remnant parallel lamination is the only physical sedimentary structure present comparison of the results of this study with a previous description of a low energy beach to offshore sequence at sapelo island georgia indicates that the two areas do not differ greatly in their facies or overall vertical sequence of sedimentary structures the principal difference is in the thickness of the three facies the california facies are significantly thicker than their georgia counterparts this difference is in direct response to the role of higher wave energy on the california coast

coastal barriers fresh look at origins nomenclature and classification issues abstract based on numerous publications and field work on the northern gulf of mexico coast u s and other coastal areas the present objective is to meet the need for an improved system of the definition and classification of barriers and their components this topic includes morphological and functional interrelationships between beach ridges barriers and similar landforms the term beach ridge was applied to a plethora of sub and supratidal ridge types in contrast the presently proposed definition restricts the term to relict berm and foredune ridges composed of sand or gravel and stabilized after isolation from shore zone of active processes barriers sustain paralic hydrology sediment biotic and nutrient condition in the coastal realm in combination with adjacent lagoons and river deltas these landforms represent physical barriers that lessen marine and related influences in brackish paralic coastal environments benefiting from historic evolution of concepts and nomenclature the task also involves the correction of misattributions rooted in early publications island spit and mainland barriers thus maintain lower salinities reduce wave erosion protect nutrient rich paralic deposits and mitigate storm induced inundation fetch limited lagoonal barrier islands are considered valid barriers only in lagoons where they face inlet transmitted full marine conditions mainland barriers of several subcategories often are important sediment archives of past sea levels hydroclimate climate and tectonic isostatic changes they consist mostly of ridgeplains at the start firmly attached or later migrated and welded to the mainland shore in addition to local hydrodynamic and topographic influences formation conditions may reflect overall paleogeographic conditions including fluvial impact in progradational regressive island settings barriers consist mainly of strandplains that laterally may alternate with narrow spit like sectors they include only single marine respectively lagoon side shore ridges with secondary dune fields sandwiched between them field observations and drillcore studies of microfossil and sediment based depositional facies suggest that most barrier islands originated by the often underestimated shoal aggradation mode two additional genetic models are recognizable a fourth remains hypothetical remotely sensed images indicate that post hurricane regeneration of the largest deltaic barrier chain in the gulf of mexico stalled in recent years late pleistocene barriers significantly influenced present coastal landforms in two extensive regions dramatic changes in past decades indicate that sea level rise and stormier future hydroclimate may likely accelerate the degradation of deltaic and non deltaic barrier islands

sea level controls on carbonate beaches and coastal dunes eolianite lessons from pleistocene bermuda 2015 geological society of america coastal dune accumulations at locations around the world have formed during sea level highstands rising sea levels falling sea levels and fluctuating sea levels initially episodes of maximum pleistocene dune activity in bermuda which is the type location for eolianite were correlated with glacio eustatic regressions this model had been abandoned by the 1970s in favor of a rising sea level model for bermuda s north shore and autogenic sediment supply model for the south shore we report the results of a detailed investigation of the intercalated mid late pleistocene beach and coastal dune deposits on the islands of bermuda and we test the existing models for these deposits we contend that the north shore model is invalidated by past misidentification of eoliandeposits as transgressive beach deposits on the south shore facies analysis of the marine isotope stage 7 mis 7 belmont formation reveals that coastal deposition was divided into two phases s1 which includes foreshore and shoreface progradation is predominantly marine and coincided with rising relative sea level s2 which commenced with protosol development on top of the marine section prior to burial by advancing dunes is nonmarine we conclude that the two successions s1 and s2 resulted from forcing by glacio hydro isostatic relative sea level change spanning a highstand rising and then falling rather than from transgressive or autogenic processes the finding that in bermuda the construction of protective coastal dunes depends on a falling relative sea level has potential implications for many vulnerable shorelines that face rising relative sea levels associated with climate change

a critical review of mid to late holocene sea level fluctuations on the eastern brazilian coastline abstract the eastern coast of brazil is 7000 km long and has been the subject of systematic paleo sea level investigations for more than 35 years more than 1000 samples have been radiocarbon dated and paleo sea level trends have been determined for 14 coastal sectors these trends have in common a mid holocene sea level maximum pmt above present sea level and a subsequent fall to the present time the time and elevation of the pmt the time when relative sea level rose above present mean sea level and the nature of late holocene sea level fall can however differ significantly discrepancies are observed not only between neighboring coastal sectors but also between different studies in a same coastal sector this paper discusses all the key radiocarbon dated samples used to establish regional trends in relative sea level on the eastern coast of brazil it is concluded that although many of the key sea level indicators are imprecise in time and space there is widespread evidence 30 of the data set for a progressive decline possibly with uneven rates of relative sea level since the end of the pmt

sedimentology and fractal based analysis of permeability data john henry member straight cliffs formation upper cretaceous utah u s a interpretation of depositional environments combined with field measurement of permeability for a portion of the upper cretaceous straight cliffs formation near escalante utah provides new results for understanding and modeling facies dependent perme ability variations offshore transition lower shoreface upper shore face and foreshore environments are interpreted for part of the john henry member on the basis of outcrop investigation using a newly designed drillhole minipermeameter probe permeability was measured for two of the facies within this unit lower shoreface bioturbated sand stone and upper shoreface cross bedded sandstone approximately 500 permeability measurements at a sample spacing of 15 cm were made along four vertical profiles and three horizontal transects o na6m 3 21 m outcrop permeability ranges from 41 to 1 675 millidarcies md in the bio turbated sandstone facies which is massive bedded moderately to well sorted and very fine to fine grained in contrast permeability ranges from 336 to 5 531 md in the moderately to moderately well sorted fine to medium grained cross bedded sandstone facies a high degree of variability in permeability of the cross bedded facies is caused by small scale variations in grain size and structure related to depositional processes the geometric mean permeability in the bio turbated sandstone is 253 md compared with 1 395 md in the cross bedded facies while the facies dependent differences in permeability k are ap parent and related to depositional and biological processes fractal based statistical analysis of the horizontal ln k increments yields near ly identical results for the bioturbated facies and the cross bedded fa cies possibly suggesting an underlying statistical commonality in the formation of both facies increment distributions from both facies ap pear similar with peaking around the mean ln k increments from the smaller vertical data set appear similar also but with a variance approximately 3 7 times larger than the horizontal value variance scaling analyses of horizontal and vertical data both yield a hurst co efficient near 0 26 which is characteristic of negative spatial correla tion of the increments the methodology developed herein offers a po tential high resolution alternative to existing methods for understand ing and characterizing subsurface properties

sedimentology and morphodynamics of a barrier island shoreface related to engineering concerns outer banks nc usa abstract forty nine vibracores were collected from a barrier island shoreface following 12 4 years of biweekly profile surveying the sedimentologic architecture of the shoreface was linked to time series elevation change and profile shape to determine relationships between morphodynamics facies development erosional processes profile closeout and cross shore transport the modern shoreface mass which erosionally overlies a tidal inlet associated complex attains a maximum thickness of 3 4 m below the beach to middle profile before pinching out seaward between 9 and 12 m depth concave erosional surfaces overlain by cross stratified fine to medium sand and gravel make up most of the lower half of the shoreface prism below the beach through middle profile reflecting longshore trough incision and subsequent current dominated aggradation at the landward margin gravel rich laminae record episodic seaward progradation of beach surfaces over coarse inner trough settings seaward a parallel laminated fine sand facies dominates the upper part of the prism recording intermittent shoal zone buildup including trough filling under high velocity plane bed conditions similarly a bioturbated parallel laminated fine to very fine sand facies makes up the entire prism below the outermost lower ramp sector again indicating buildup under high velocity conditions however accretion of the lower ramp results from major storms that cause trough scour along landward locations and simultaneous displacement of fine sand onto the lower ramp conversely lower ramp erosion typically occurs during less energetic conditions as sediment is slowly returned shoreward causing inner shoreface buildup close spacing of major storms during some years led to net progradation of the shoreface the upper and lower limits of surveyed elevation change ule and lle repeatedly develop similar limit profile shapes over shoreface accretion erosion cycles the ule reflects accretion maxima resulting from beach bar and lower ramp buildup the lle and lower sedimentologic limit lls along the inner 250 to 300 m of the active shoreface are a product of storm trough scour down to a maximum depth of 5 5 m below the lower ramp facies the lle and lls are primarily products of less energetic wave erosion down to 5 m shoreward and 9 m offshore depths the lle closely matches the lls documenting that 90 of the shoreface prism was reworked during the 12 4 year period whereas actual ages for erosional events indicate a potential of 2 to 4 years for complete reworking of the shoreface mass textural distribution indicates net long term transport direction and loci of deposition for different sized material the coarsest material is concentrated at landwardmost locations and well sorted fine to very fine sand at seaward locations medium sand to gravel tends to remain within the trough zone even during extreme storm events the ule and lle also represent the upper and lower limits for profile closure events a location of about 4 5 m depth at 300 to 350 m from shoreline marks the boundary between inner profile and lower ramp associated closure events the boundary between trough associated and lower ramp facies and the lower ramp morphologic break all of which correspond to the juncture between longshore current and shoaling wave dominated zones the lower ramp zone of closure is a zone of seaward decreasing storm transport in which fine to very fine sand is the typical bedload material

rip current type spacing and persistence narrabeen beach australia abstract long term daily rip observations on narrabeen beach australia were made together with daily measurements of wave height period direction surf zone width and beach state a total of 3513 rips were observed on 270 days over a 19 month period results show that rips accompany moderate to high waves and are associated with intermediate beach types rip spacing follows wave conditions increasing in spacing size and intensity as waves rise and conversely as they fall rips are a function of both the prevailing and antecedent wave conditions and the rate and direction of change in wave conditions rips are classified into three types erosion mega and accretion erosion rips are initiated by rising seas in the transverse bar and rip and higher beach states they accompany general beach erosion they are widely spaced narrabeen ys 300 500 m 100 200 m increasing in size and intensity with the waves until the fully dissipative ripless state is reached they are both temporally and spatially highly variable persisting in one location for only hours to a day or so except where topographically controlled they are a major mechanism for the seaward transport of sediment and under extreme conditions may extend over a kilometer seaward of the breaker zone mega rips are large scale 1 km topographically controlled erosion rips that persist when nearshore and or embayment topography prevents the development of the fully dissipative state by inducing wave refraction and persist longshore gradients in surf zone dynamics that in turn drive the rip circulation accretion rips prevail during stable or falling wave conditions usually following erosion rip formation they are associated with general beach accretion are more closely spaced narrabeen ys 170 250 m 100 m less intense and become increasingly topographically arrested by crescentic bars and rhythmic bar beach morphology of the longshore bar trough rhythmic bar and beach and transverse bar and rip beach states they are relatively stable both spatially and temporally and may persist in one location for days to weeks if wave conditions remain favorable they are fair weather rips which may disappear by infilling in the low tide terrace beach state or be destroyed by rising seas rips generally are absent from the reflective low tide terrace and fully dissipative beach states

dynamics of a high energy dissipative surf zone vright l d guza r t and short a d 1982 dynamics of a high energy dissipative surf zone mar geol 45 41 62 pressure and horizontal current u v time series were measured at different positions across the inner 150 m of a wide 500 m surf zone of a microtidal high wave energy beach incident waves had average heights of 3 4 m with maxima of 5 m and periods of 12 to 15 sec bores of broken waves diminished in height at a nearly constant rate as they progressed across the surf zone the ratio of bore height h to local water depth h was everywhere less than 1 for even the highest bores and was on the order of 0 40 for the significant bores at incident wave frequencies rip circulation was weak or absent but a moderate longshore current was present shore normal flows were vertically segregated with strong net onshore flows prevailing just below the surface accompanied by weaker net seaward flows near the bed spectra of water surface oscillations as determined from pressure u and v reveal that most of the energy in the inner surf zone was at infragravity frequencies periods greater than 30 sec shoreward decay of wave energy at incident wave frequencies was accompanied by shoreward growth of infragravity energy near the beach the infragravity oscillations had heights on the order of 1 m cross spectra show that the infragravity oscillations were standing in the shore normal direction from the relative magnitudes of infragravity versus incident wave currents it is inferred that the surf beat may be an order of magnitude more important than incident waves to the transport of sediment in the inner surf zone

the last interglacial sea level high stand on the southern cape coastline of south africa abstract the continental margin of southern south africa exhibits an array of emergent marginal marine sediments permitting the reconstruction of long term eustatic sea level changes we report a suite of optical luminescence ages and supplementary amino acid racemization data which provide paleosea level index points for three sites on this coastline deposits in the swartvlei and groot brak estuaries display tidal inlet facies overlain by shoreface or eolian facies contemporary facies relations suggest a probable high stand 6 0 8 5 m above modern sea level amsl at cape agulhas evidence of a past sea level high stand comprises a gravel beach ca 3 8 m amsl and an overlying sandy shoreface facies up to 7 5 m amsl osl ages between 138 7 ka and 118 7 ka confirm a last interglacial age for all marginal marine facies the high stand was followed by a sea level regression that was associated with the accumulation of eolian dunes dating to between 122 7 ka and 113 6 ka these data provide the first rigorous numerical age constraints for last interglacial sea level fluctuations in this region revealing the timing and elevation of the last interglacial high stand to broadly mirror a number of other far field locations

reconstruction of paleo wave conditions during the late pleistocene from marine terrace deposits monterey bay california the santa cruz coastal terrace fringes much of the northern monterey bay region california it consists mainly of a regressive sequence of high energy barred nearshore marine sediments deposited during the last sangamonian highstand of sea level this sequence can be sub divided into several depth dependent facies on the basis of paleo current data and vertical sequence of sedimentary structures these include a lower shoreface facies deposited in 10 16 m water depth an upper shoreface facies including both a storm dominated assemblage and a surf zone assemblage deposited in 0 10 m water depth and a foreshore facies deposited in the swash zone up to 3 5 m above high tide the magnitudes of the storm events responsible for depositing these sediments were estimated by calculating paleo wave heights using a variety of criteria e g critical threshold equations breaker depths berm heights in addition the climate and paleogeography during the deposition of these sediments were essentially the same as today allowing the use of present day wave statistics to estimate the frequency of these storm events the largest storms formed offshore flowing currents e g rip wind forced and possibly storm surge ebb currents that resulted in the deposition of approximately 30 of the sediments seaward of the surf zone however the magnitude and frequency of these events are unknown the remaining 70 of the sediment beyond the surf zone was deposited in response to smaller storm waves which were on the average at least 1 6 m high such waves presently occur no more than 15 of the time sediments deposited during fairweather conditions i e the remaining 85 of the time have a low preservation potential and are generally not preserved in this facies in contrast surf zone sediments were deposited by a variety of processes associated with waves whose maximum offshore heights were probably 2 2 m such waves presently occur up to 92 of the time sediments within the swash zone were deposited by waves up to 3 m high the largest of which presently occur approximately 2 of the time most of the sediments were deposited by storms of intermediate magnitude and frequency different facies however appear to preferentially record events of different recurrence intervals in particular surf zone sediments were deposited under relatively small storm and post storm conditions whereas sediments deposited farther offshore record increasingly larger less frequent storm events relatively rare events e g the 100 or 1000 yr events do not appear to have significantly affected sedimentation in these nearshore environments

formation and circulation of the cold intermediate layer in the gulf of saint lawrence 1 the local heat content and formation rate of the cold intermediate layer cil in the gulf of saint lawrence are examined using a combination of new in situ wintertime observations and a three dimensional numerical model the field observations consist of five moorings located throughout the gulf over the period of november 2002 to june 2003 the observations demonstrate a substantially deeper surface mixed layer in the central and northeast gulf than in regions downstream of the buoyant surface outflow from the saint lawrence estuary the mixed layer depth in the estuary remains shallow 60 m throughout winter with the arrival of a layer of near freezing waters between 40 and 100 m depth in april an eddy permitting ice ocean model with realistic forcing is used to hindcast the period of observation the model simulates well the seasonal evolution of mixed layer depth and cil heat content although the greatest heat losses occur in the northeast the most significant change in cil heat content over winter occurs in the anticosti trough the observed renewal of cil in the estuary in spring is captured by the model the simulation highlights the role of the northwest gulf and in particular the separation of the gaspe current in controlling the exchange of cil between the estuary and the gulf in order to isolate the effects of inflow through the strait of belle isle on the cil heat content we examine a sensitivity experiment in which the strait is closed this simulation shows that the inflow has a less important effect on the cil than was suggested by previous studies

changes in holocene relative sea level and coastal morphology a study of a raised beach ridge system on samso southwest scandinavia changes in relative sea level rsl during the holocene are reconstructed based on ground penetrating radar gpr data collected across a raised beach ridge system on the island of samso denmark the internal architecture of the beach ridge and swale deposits is divided into characteristic radar facies we identify downlap points interpreted to mark the transition from the beachface to the upper shoreface and thus sea level at the time of deposition this new data set shows that beach steps can be preserved and resolved in gpr reflection data this is important as downlap points identified at the base of the beach steps should be corrected for beach step height in order to be used as a marker of sea level identification of beach steps in combination with observed changes in dips of the interpreted beachface reflections can give information about changes in the morphodynamic conditions of beach ridge progradation through time the vertical levels of identified downlap points are combined with an age m

carbonate sediment dynamics and compartmentalisation of a highly modified coast geraldton western australia abstract the coastal zone off geraldton in temperate midwestern australia was investigated to identify sediment dynamics and sediment budget components of two main embayments an integrated analysis of hydrodynamics geomorphology sediments and habitat data was required to overcome a lack of previous examinations of sediment dynamics in the region the seaward extent of the nearshore transport system was assessed an improved understanding of coastal sediment dynamics and its relationship to coastal stability and assets was also achieved the system is complex with biogenic sediment input as well as carbonate dune and river derived sediments coastal erosion at geraldton is mitigated by nourishment activities which require sand bypassing natural and artificial sediment sinks were identified and are mainly located in the northern embayment where beach erosion is more significant a dredged shipping channel needed to provide access to port facilities modifies the local sediment dynamics this study provides new information for managing the geraldton coast which may be applicable to similar regions of western australia and carbonate coasts elsewhere

facies characteristics and depositional models of highly bioturbated shallow marine siliciclastic strata an example from the fulmar formation late jurassic uk central graben abstract an extensive core database from the late jurassic fulmar formation illustrates the practicalities of facies analysis and depositional modelling in highly bioturbated heterolithic shallow marine siliciclastic strata twelve major sedimentary facies 1 12 are defined on the basis of lithology grain size visually estimated sand silt content and the presence or absence of primary sedimentary structures ichnofabric characteristics are also defined and have proved to be not always facies specific for purposes of depositional modelling the 12 facies types are resolved into six facies associations a f each representative of distinct shoreline shallow marine environments from these associations three broad depositional models have been constructed storm influenced shoreface model 1 bioturbated shoreface model 2 and a speculative bioturbated shelf model model 3 stratigraphical and palaeontological criteria suggest that models 1 and 2 are shoreline attached sedimentological data indicate that they occur as end members to a spectrum of shoreline settings constrained by incident wave energy bands for shorefaces subject to significant storm influence well preserved event beds occur seaward of the upper shoreface in the bioturbated shoreface model however the lower shoreface and adjacent shelf deposits are characterized by intense infaunal reworking the bioturbated shelf model displays no clear evidence of shoreline connection with the resultant facies often exhibiting highly abundant siliceous sponge spicules together with other open marine indicators such as belemnites and rare ammonites unlike the shoreface sand bodies which received sediment from basin margin fluvial systems shelf sand bodies in the fulmar formation are more likely to have been intrabasinally sourced along relay ramps or other forms of transfer zone this sediment may have undergone a long transit residence period on the shelf prior to eventual burial in hanging wall depocentres strongly influenced by zechstein salt withdrawal this study demonstrates that an ichnofabric approach as opposed to one of simple ichnodiversity is highly significant with respect to the description and modelling of highly bioturbated shallow marine siliciclastic strata in the fulmar formation ichnofabric analysis is capable of providing sensitive information on fluctuations in depositional energy levels water depth sedimentation rates erosion rates substrate consistency and dissolved oxygen levels evidence of these fluctuations is often apparent at intra facies scale but would largely go unnoticed using a conventional sedimentological approach to data gathering based on ichnodiversity at best depositionally significant changes in ichnofabric may occur without any significant change in ichnodiversity ichnofabric analysis also plays an important role in the hierarchical assessment of key stratal surfaces for purposes of sequence stratigraphic modelling

beach and nearshore facies southeast australia abstract the morphology texture and facies sequence on seven sand beaches located in low moderate and high wave energy microtidal environments in southern australia were investigated using box coring and scuba observations systematic variation in facies occur both within and between the beaches low energy reflective beaches are limited in lateral and vertical extent and in facies to beach laminations separated by coarse step deposits from finer nearshore cross lamination facies moderate energy intermediate beaches characterised by rip circulation possess increasingly wider surfzones with ridge and runnel and bar trough facies separating the beach and step facies from the more extensive nearshore sequence high energy dissipative beaches may have 500 m wide surfzones containing multiple bar trough topography fine beach laminations with backwash structures grade into 4 5 m thick bar trough sequences then the extensive nearshore facies as wave energy increases from low h b h b 2 5 m the vertical extent of the beach to nearshore sequence increases from

equilibrium slopes and cross shore velocity asymmetries in a storm dominated barred nearshore system abstract the near bed 0 10 m elevation horizontal velocities were measured across a two barred lacustrine shoreface during a storm and reveal a spatially coherent but temporally variable pattern in the low order moments of the velocity field large cross shore velocity asymmetries indicated 1 1 spatially extensive and temporally persistent offshore mean flows up to 0 18 m s 1 across the landward slope of the linear outer bar reflecting an undertow driven by a wave induced setup 2 2 an onshore directed skewness opposing the mean flow of wind wave origin and persistent under propagating bores in the inner bar system long after this asymmetry had disappeared from the outer bar extensive sediment reactivation with near zero net sediment flux over the whole of the upper shoreface indicated a sediment prism in a steady state volumetrically over the storm cycle uniform depths of sediment reactivation with zero bed elevation change over the storm cycle revealed local slopes in a steady state in the outer linear bar however time integration of the near bed velocity field at this location indicated an offshore net flux of water while sedimentary structures indicated bedform migration and thus at least bedload almost uniformly onshore when ripples and megaripples were present the sediment transport giving rise to the local equilibrium cannot be explained therefore on the basis of the mean properties of the near bed velocity vector but requires knowledge of the time varying instantaneous sediment transport vector onshore migration of the inner bar correlated well with the large and persistent onshore skewness of the velocity distribution in the inner surf zone associated with translatory surf bores throughout the storm decay period low frequency oscillations were only significant close to the shoreline but may have influenced the development of a sinuous three dimensional inner bar form as it migrated onshore

beach ridges definitions and significance abstract beach ridges frequent components of quaternary coastal plains and other coastal landforms have been cited as indicators of the positions of ancient seashores and associated sea levels numerous authors utilized the term beach ridge for active and relict usually wave built supratidal and or intertidal forms wind built ridges have been only occasionally included in the definition the term was applied also to submerged landward shifting eventually stranded bars a consistent redefinition of the term is highly desirable beach ridges should include all relict strandplain ridges whether dominated by wave swash built or by eolian lithosomes all active ridge like shore features regardless of dimensions morphology and origin are excluded because of the resistance of coarse clastic ridges to wave and wind erosion swash built gravel or coarse shell storm ridges may build several meters above the level of high tide swash built high berms even on pure sandy beaches exceed the highest tides during episodes of wind induced record water levels frequently but not always burying underlying low relief berm ridges of berm lithosomes sequences of relatively steep multiple foredunes are commonly named beach ridge plains the narrow subparallel relict foredunes that form these strandplains presently are designated as eolian beach ridges beach ridges thus are defined as relict semiparallel multiple wave and wind built landforms that originated in the inter and supratidal zones until separated from the shoreline by progradation sandy pebbly or shell enriched backshore berm ridges behind an active foreshore should not be considered beach ridges strandplain progradation is either continuous or with the inclusion of subtidal cat s eye ponds discontinuous contrary to claims transgressive cheniers do not represent true cheniers alone within their overall progradational context cheniers a special category of beach ridges bracketed by subtidal intertidal mudflats may be transgressive or regressive in character landward driven transgressive ridges should be designated beach ridges only after they are stabilized on intertidal flats when recognizable between clearly identifiable intertidal and overlying eolian intervals the horizontal interface between these lithosomes in beach ridges may help the reconstruction of ancient tide lake levels diagnostic sedimentary textures structures and fossils however often may be unavailable in the deposits along with various types of elevated terraces composed of raised marine deposits and certain coastal landforms of erosional origin that occur worldwide beach ridges of clearly proven wave built origin may also serve as indicators of ancient higher than present sea levels

berm development on a monsoon influenced microtidal beach the mechanisms of berm development along a microtidal high energy beach is examined such a beach with medium sized sand and monsoon wave controlled profile at valiathura south west coast of india is selected for this study the waves which very rarely fall below 1 m often exceed 4 m during the monsoon period of may to october the erosion accretion pattern of the beach shows a cyclicity and the berm development is mainly due to the onshore migration and welding of longshore bars on to the beach following the monsoon rough season the stages of berm development in the present microtidal beach are more or less similar to the model presented by hine for a mesotidal case except for the following intermediate additional stages the longshore bar develops due to the erosion of beach when the wave steepness was above 0 04 gets flattened when it falls below 0 04 and then reforms nearer to the shoreline as a swash bar this reformed bar gets divided and the inner bar gets welded on to the beach followed by the outer bar developing the berm during the onshore migration of the longshore bar and berm development the beach face becomes partially reflective with the surf scaling parameter eb between 2 5 and 33 the inshore is dissipative with the inshore surf scaling parameter es 33 the offshore side of the longshore bar is partially reflective with its surf scaling parameter ebar between 2 5 and 33 the breakers are spilling or plunging vertical growth of the berm is mainly due to the changes in swash limit caused by the variations in wave steepness breaker height and type vertical growth stops when the beach face attains equilibrium with the grain size wave energy relationship and a wave steepness below 0 02 helps to sustain this state

the brazilian sea level curves a critical review with emphasis on the curves from the paranaguaand cananeia regions abstract relative sea level curves for the mid to late holocene have been proposed for eight different sectors along the brazilian coast this paper aims to review the data used to construct the curves proposed for two sectors the paranaguaand cananeia regions in southeast brazil more specifically we analyze the palaeo sea level indicators vermetid tubes shells wood fragments and shell midden deposits related to 1 the sea level maximum of the mid holocene and 2 the two secondary oscillations that would have occurred between 4100 3800 years b p and 3000 2700 years b p the sedimentary deposits of the coastal plain as well as vermetid datings suggest a mid holocene sea level maximum between 3 5 and 4 m the great majority of the indicators used to infer the secondary oscillations in previous studies were derived from shell middens besides being unreliable palaeo sea level indicators these data also showed inconsistencies that undermine the existence of such oscillations the plot of all the data derived from vermetid samples found along the brazilian coast also indicate a rather smoother sea level fall in the last 5100 years

multivariate statistical analysis for identifying water quality and hydrogeochemical evolution of shallow groundwater in quaternary deposits in the lower kelantan river basin malaysian peninsula a long term hydrogeochemical data set is used in this study to evaluate the water quality and hydrogeochemical evolution of shallow groundwater in a quaternary deposit a multivariate statistical method hierarchical cluster analysis hca is applied to overcome the problem of a large number of data points in the integration interpretation and representation of the results hca is applied to a subgroup of the hydrogeochemical data set to evaluate their usefulness to classify the groundwater bodies this subgroup consists of 27 groundwater wells and 15 variables ph total dissolved solids electrical conductivity ec na ca2 mg2 k hco3 cl so42 fe mn nh4 no3 and sio2 only 12 chemical variables were used for the analysis four clusters have been identified c1 c4 with two main prevalent facies na hco3 and ca hco3 the hydrogeochemical evolution of shallow groundwater is governed by the processes of precipitation weathering dissolution and ion exchange

rip currents as a geological tool this paper considers the nature and sedimentary significance of rip currents rip currents are the main factor responsible for the transport of coarse sediments from the littoral zone to greater depths such sediments deposited outside the zone of wave deformation may be identified as storm rip current increments within sediments deposited during fair weather composite beds deposited during a given wave cycle by storm rip currents are closely similar to turbidites and many so called fluxo turbidites described from flysch deposits using data gathered in studies conducted on the modern baltic coast supplemented by experimental work and theoretical considerations a sedimentary model is proposed the model may be used to interpret possible rip current deposits among shallow water turbidites and both modern storm sediments and ancient tempestites language en