Coastal geomorphology into the twenty-first century

Shoreline Changes and Sediment Redistribution at Palmyra Atoll (Equatorial Pacific Ocean): 1874–Present

“…The processes leading to their formation and modification are poorly known (Barry, Cowell, and Woodroffe, 2007;Cowell and Kench, 2001;Stephenson and Brander, 2003), although the forcing effect of winds on wave energy is clearly important (Hopley, 1989;Roberts, Wilson, and LugoFernandez, 1992). It has also been suggested that many reef islands may have attained a quasi-equilibrium size at an earlier time and that their growth has now either greatly slowed (Woodroffe et al, 1999) or stopped (Kench, McLean, and Nichol, 2005).…”

A morphodynamic model of reef-island development on atolls

“…Reef-islands on atolls appear to be particularly vulnerable to the impact of rising sea-levels due to global warming (Roy and Connell, 1991;Leatherman, 1997;Kayanne, 2000;Kench and Cowell, 2000;Kench and Brander, 2006a), however, the genesis and development of these landforms is poorly understood Stephenson and Brander, 2003). Reefislands on Indo-Pacific atolls are accretionary landforms formed during the past few thousand years associated with a period of sea-level stability or a slight fall of sealevel throughout the Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans (Schofield, 1977;Dickinson, 1999;Woodroffe, 2005).…”

Hydrodynamics and morphological adjustment of a mixed sand and gravel beach, Torere, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

“…In contrast to the wealth of research on hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes on sandy coasts, comparable studies on coarse clastic beaches remain relatively few (Mason and Coates, 2001;Stephenson and Brander, 2003). Coarse clastic beaches are relatively common on high latitude coasts and can be classified into three distinct morpho-sedimentary types based on the relative abundance of sand and gravel and their spatial distribution within a beach: (i) pure gravel; (ii) mixed sand and gravel beaches in which sand and gravel-size sediment is fully mixed across the beach system and (iii) composite beaches where gravel comprises the steeper upper beach and sand-size material comprises a lower gradient intertidal platform at the base of the beach (Kirk, 1980;Pye, 2001;Jennings and Shulmeister, 2002).…”