Significance Statement
Gravel beaches serve as natural coastal defense that protect the cliffs from erosion and backshore region from storms and wave run-up. Coarse sand and gravel mixture can be used as a filler material to regenerative eroded beaches.
Researchers from University of Alicante in Spain proposed analysis and modelling of cross-shore profile of gravel beaches in the province of Alicante with the aim of obtaining a model for an equilibrium profile of gravel beaches. they divided the profile into three category based on their characteristic, that is backshore profile runs from the beginning of the beach to the average sea level; intermediate submerged profile from the shoreline to the onset of Posidonia oceanica meadows and profile in Posidonia oceanica zone, which extends from the beginning to the end of the meadow. The study is now published in the peer-reviewed journal, Ocean Engineering.
The possible relationships between the slope of the beaches and sediment size were also studied, as well as the incident wave height in each of the beaches, and no significant relationship was obtained. In cross-shore profile analysis, the slope of the land was also studied and compared to the slope of Posidonia oceanica meadow. The team observed that the higher the slope in the land the larger the slope in the meadow.
This study successfully designed the most appropriate model for an equilibrium profile of gravel beaches advancing profile morphology prediction for beach regeneration. The model achieved with the potential function as this area has a continuous slope with a linear form, similar to that of a reef profile.
Journal Reference
I. López1, L. Aragonés1, , Y. Villacampa2, Analysis and Modelling of Cross-Shore Profile of Gravel Beaches in the Province of Alicante, Ocean Engineering 118 (2016) 173–186.
[expand title=”Show Affiliations”]- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Alicante, San Vicent del Raspeig s/n, 03690 Alicante, Spain
- Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Alicante, San Vicent del Raspeig s/n, 03690 Alicante, Spain
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