Latest Coastal geography Stories
In one of his songs Bob Dylan asks "How many years can a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea?", and thus poses an intriguing geological question for which an accurate answer is not easily provided. Mountain ranges are in a constant interplay between climatically controlled weathering processes on the one hand and the tectonic forces that cause folding and thrusting and thus thickening of the Earth's crust on the other hand. While erosion eventually erases any geological...
Although the dune ecosystem is unusual, fragile and is protected by the "habitats" directive of the network Natura 2000, its conservation is very vulnerable to the proliferation of car parks, nearby buildings and inadequate boardwalks installed for protection or beach access.Researchers at the University of Seville (UoS) have published a study in the Journal of Coastal Research of human impact on the natural dunes at two sites in the Gulf of Cádiz, specifically in the protected...
Unlike the situation in other caves, damage caused by tourists at the Ãguila cave in Ãvila, Spain is "imperceptible", despite it receiving tens of thousands of visitors each year. This is the main conclusion of an international research study headed by the University of Alcalá (UAH), which measured heat variations in the cave."Despite the tens of thousands of visitors that the Ãguila Cave receives each year, the temperature variations in it are related to the...
The sand along the south-western coastal rim of Norway has drifted for more than 9000 calendar years. This was triggered by sea-level changes and human activities, new research has found.Researchers in countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland study sand drift, but most of them are focusing on sand dunes along the coastline, not on the plains further inland."Sand dunes are dynamic. For all we know, they may have been formed last year. But sand plaines are much older and in periods...
An assessment of coastal change over the past 150 years has found 68 percent of beaches in the New England and Mid-Atlantic region are eroding, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report released today. Scientists studied more than 650 miles of the New England and Mid-Atlantic coasts and found the average rate of coastal change "“ taking into account beaches that are both eroding and prograding -- was negative 1.6 feet per year. Of those beaches eroding, the most extreme case exceeded...
Engineers have created a new type of "stereo vision" to use in studying ocean waves as they pound against the shore, providing a better way to understand and monitor this violent, ever-changing environment.The approach, which uses two video cameras to feed data into an advanced computer system, can observe large areas of ocean waves in real time and help explain what they are doing and why, scientists say.The system may be of particular value as climate change and rising sea levels pose...
By adding information about the subsoil to an existing sedimentation and erosion model, researchers at TU Delft have obtained a clearer picture of how rivers and deltas develop over time. A better understanding of the interaction between the subsoil and flow processes in a river-delta system can play a key role in civil engineering (delta management), but also in geology (especially in the work of reservoir geologists). Nathanaël Geleynse et al. recently published on their work in this...
A centuries-old religious ceremony of an indigenous people in southern Mexico has led to small evolutionary changes in a local species of fish, according to researchers from Texas A&M University.Since before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the New World, the Zoque people of southern Mexico would venture each year during the Easter season deep into the sulfuric cave Cueva del Azufre to implore their deities for a bountiful rain season. As part of the annual ritual, they release into...
DUBAI, UAE, November 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Marine and coastal developments in the Middle East are increasingly attracting global attention. Dr. Benno Boer, Ecological Sciences Advisor Arab Region at UNESCO, Craig Thackray, Head of Marine at Scott Wilson, and Magdy Youssef, Director of the Lusail Complex at Qatari Diar, were approached to provide input from the NGO, consultant and developer perspective on why this is so. Dr. Benno Boer, UNESCO, commented: "The Arab States in...
The islands flanking the outlet of the Mississippi River are not only facing losses due to sea level rise and local subsidence, according to one study, but new unknown impacts from oil recovery operations, say researchers working on another project. Both will be presenting their work on Nov. 1 and 2 at the meeting of the Geological Society of American in Denver. Some islands could disappear entirely in coming decades, exposing huge swaths of marshland to the waves of the open sea.On one side...
Latest Coastal geography Reference Libraries
Coral reefs are submerged structures consisting of calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of small animals found in marine waters that enclose few nutrients. The majority of coral reefs are constructed from stony corals, which then consist of polyps that come together in groups. The polyps are like small sea anemones, to which they are very closely related. Unlike the sea anemones, coral polyps secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which provide support and protections...
Mudflats, or otherwise known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is left behind by tides or rivers. They’re found in sheltered regions such as bayous, lagoons, estuaries, and bays. Mudflats might be seen geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, a result from the deposition of estuarine silts, marine animal detritus, and clays. The majority of the sediment in a mudflat is within the intertidal zone, therefore the flat is submerged and exposed about twice per day. In...
A salt marsh, also otherwise known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone that lies between the land and the open salt water or brackish water that is routinely flooded by the tides. It’s dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants, for example, herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants originate from all around the globe and are important to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes...
Image Credit: Meteorologist Joshua Kelly When meteorologists are forecasting for ocean-going vessels, there are a few terms that we need to understand. The first term is wavelength. Wavelength is defined as the distance between two crests or between two troughs as seen in the image above. The example above highlights the crest to crest concept of wavelength. The next term that we use is wave height, and to determine this, we first must look at the wave when it passes our station. When...
