Understanding and predicting beach morphological change, erosion of cohesive shore platforms - part 2

Research investigating the fundamental underlying principles that control the rate of cohesive shore platform erosion and its role in coastal morphology.

• From: Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme and Environment Agency
• Published: 17 February 2021

• Category: Understanding risks from all sources of flooding
• Topics: Climate change, Coast, Coastal erosion, Modelling, Understanding physical processes
• Project status: Completed
• Project code: FD1926
• Date of completion: 31 March 2007

Documents

Understanding and predicting beach morphological change associated with the erosion of cohesive shore platforms - final report (80KB) PDF

Understanding and predicting beach morphological change associated with the erosion of cohesive shore platforms - summary (62KB) PDF

Understanding and predicting beach morphological change associated with the erosion of cohesive shore platforms - technical report (7.5MB) PDF

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Details

Cohesive shore platforms are often located in some of the most rapidly eroding coastal areas of the UK and have implications for the performance of coastal defences. The irreversible erosion of these platforms poses significant problems for coastal management and plays a large part in controlling the functioning of the wider coastal system, including beach form and shoreline recession.

This research investigates:

• the specifics of the weathering and erosion processes, particularly biological and wave processes
• the relationship between geology, material strength, weathering/ erosion processes and platform morphology
• the prediction of cohesive platform evolution in the light of future climate change and human factors

Through innovative field studies and laboratory testing, this research provides a better understanding of the fundamental underlying principles that control the rate of cohesive shore platform erosion. It brings together new data to help predict how shore platforms may change over time. Combined with an extensive literature review and numerical modelling studies, the research has provided an important base to further understand the role played by cohesive platforms in coastal morphology.

The scientific grounding gained from this research will be translated into detailed design guidance to help decision makers implement effective management strategies along these types of shoreline.

This research also suggests preliminary management guidance. This is an area that may increase in importance as managed realignment is more widely considered. This report will be of particular interest to coastal scientists and managers.

This project ran from 2005 to 2007 at a cost of £158,002.

Published 17 February 2021