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Impact of beach pollution
Impact of beach pollution
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Primary and Secondary Coasts Surfers, swimmers and sunbathers use beaches for recreation. People fish off beaches for food. Since many people take their vacations at the beach, lots of beaches in tropical locations are important to their country’s economy. Entire cities, regions and countries depend on the money tourists spend while visiting the beach. Beaches are naturally very dynamic places, but people try to control them and build permanent structures, such as houses, restaurants, shops and hotels, on or near the shore. The natural erosion and deposition of beaches becomes a problem. Beaches con disappear over time, or even over night during severe storms. Beaches are areas of loose sediment (sand, gravel, cobbles) controlled by ocean processes. Most beaches have several characteristic features. First are offshore bars, which help protect beaches from erosion. Next is the foreshore, which rises from the water toward the crest of the next feature; a berm. On low-lying shores, dunes form behind beaches. Dunes look like rolling hills of sand and are blown into place by the wind. New, smaller dunes are often changing shape as the wind continues to affect them. Waves and currents move the accumulated sediment constantly creating, eroding and changing the coastlines. There are many different types of coasts; beaches are just one type. Coasts are divided into two categories: primary coasts, which were created by non-marine processes, and secondary coasts, which were formed by marine action. Primary coasts happen because of changes in the land, such as river deltas or lava flows. Primary coasts are created by erosion, deposition, or tectonic activity. Many of these coastlines were formed as the sea level rose during the last 18,000 years, submerging river and glacial valleys to form bays and fjords. River deltas are an example of a primary coast. They form where a river deposits soil and other material as it enters the sea. Primary coasts are divided into two categories: submergent and emergent coasts. Submergent coastlines result from a general sea-level rise and crustal subsidence. Most of the eastern United States has submergent coastlines. One example is the Chesapeake Bay. Emergent coastlines result from the land being lifted, either by tectonic activity or rebound from the weight of heavy glaciers, which exposes the former sea bottom bit by bit forming continuously new shoreline.
In Roman times St. Mary's Church was built with Twin Towers as part of the building. Originally the church was 3kms away from the sea but as the cliff was eroded it eventually became next to the see. There was a danger the cliff under the Twin Towers and therefore the Twin Towers themselves would be destroyed by erosion. To stop this happening many coastal defences and different types of management have been erected. The initial try at coastal management was in 1809.
Investigating the Geographical Processes that are Affecting the Physical and Built Coastal Environment There are three geographical processes that are affecting the physical and built coastal environment, they are; erosion, deposition, and transportation. Erosion is the group of natural processes, including weathering, dissolution, abrasion, corrosion, and transportation, by which material is worn away from the earth’s surface, this is mainly caused by wind, running water, and waves breaking on the coast. Deposition is the depositing something or the laying down of matter by a natural process. Transportation is when sand is moved along the coast by long shore drift. At North Cronulla beach erosion is evident.
There are many different types of coasts that exist throughout the United States. The south shore of Long Island has a unique types of coast known as a barrier beach. Barrier beaches are long narrow land forms that are composed of sand and other lose sediments. These sediments are brought together by the actions of waves, currents and storm surges. Barrier beaches are subject to constant changes by the same forces. Sand is constantly eroded in one area an deposited in another. Barrier coasts are important for a number of reasons; they protect the mainland of Long Island from the open ocean and flooding during storms, for recreational use and the unique ecosystems which exist on barrier beaches.
Not only has urban development faced damage from these coastal changes, however by changing coastal stability, development itself has increased erosion. Buildings, roads and homes built too close to the beach have become vulnerable to erosion due to extreme weather conditions. Furthermore, during storms, large waves cause severe erosion to this beach. Consequently, wave patterns change as they are are not naturally rolling onto the beach. Instead, they are smashing against built surfaces/structures (causing more erosion) and then are being violently pushed back.
The hypothesis presented in a paper titled, “Barrier Island Formation”(Hoyt 1130), is as follows: Along a sand shoreline, wind will form dunes or ridges (depending on the type of material the beach is composed of). If there is a relative submergence, the area landward of the dune/ridge will be flooded to form a lagoon and the ridge/dune then becomes a barrier island. This would most likely occur when a stable shoreline with a well-developed ridge is engulfed by a relatively sudden transgression that does not erode or push the ridge landward (Ot...
1. They wear away or erode the coast. They carry away or transport the eroded material. They drop or deposit it in sheltered areas where they lose
Erosion is when the elements such as wind, water, and ice remove pieces of land. (“What is Coastal Erosion?”) Coastal Erosion takes place when destructive waves wear parts of the coast away. Four ways in which this takes place are corrasion/abrasion, hydraulic action, attrition, and corrosion/solution. (“Internet Geography”) Corrasion/abrasion is when materials are hurled at the base of cliffs through waves. Hydraulic action is when waves hit the base of a cliff and air is compacted, when the wave leaves air is rushed out and often this causes the material to break. Attrition is when the waves cause rocks and pebbles to smash into each other and eventually break into pieces. Finally, Corrosion/solution is when certain types of cliff erode from the result of acids in the sea. (“Internet Geography”) Coastal Erosion is the natural process of taking land away permanently from one place to put it somewhere else. (“What is Coastal Erosion?”) Eroding coastlines are an abundant and important topic because it can change people’s surroundings in a negative way. I would like to address the questions surrounding Coastal Erosion.
Increased sea levels can give way to a variety of problems: rapid coastal erosion, shoreline change, loss of natural protective barriers, saltwater intrusion into aquifers and surface water, changes in tidal prisms (volume of water in an inlet between high tide and low tide), and rising water tables ("Climate Change and Impacts of Sea Level Rise"). Ventura County is facing many issues with rapid coastal erosion and loss of natural protective barriers. Beach Erosion Authority for Clean Oceans and Nourishment (BEACON) conducted a study to evaluate the conditions of different beaches along the Ventura County coast (Barlow, "Coastal Erosion Problems Highlighted in New Study"). Port Hueneme’s western beaches (picture to the left) are losing three to five inches per month due to sea level rise pushing beaches farther back.
Over the past 100 years the Louisiana coastline has suffered greatly from biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic factors. The abiotic factors include things such as hurricanes or overnutrition that influence the surrounding biota. The biotic factors that contribute to coastal erosion are things like the immigration invasive species and the emigration or extinction of local flora and fauna that help preserve the wetlands. Additionally, there are anthropogenic factors such as pollution that can have strong negative influences on the abiotic and biotic factors of the wetlands. Each one of these factors cause ecological disturbances to the wetlands at a frequency and intensity that is unmanageable for the local flora and fauna. There are currently certain measures that are being taken into consideration to slow or stop the erosion of the Louisiana coastline.
Dean, Cornelia. Against the Tide: The Battle for America's Beaches. New York: Columbia UP, 1999. Hanley, Robert. As Beaches Erode, a Debate on Who'll Pay for Repairs.The New York Times, Apr. 20, 1998, P. A1. Kossoff, Julian and Kate Watson-Smyth. Fake Beaches Wreak Havoc on Sea Life. The Independent (London), Aug. 2, 1998, p. 5. Moran, Kevin. Future of Beach Homes Is Uncertain as Shifting Sand.The Houston Chronicle, May 1, 1999, p. A1. Lambert Bruce. Lines in the Sand: The Beach as Battleground. The New York Times, May 23, 1999, p. LI14. Martin Douglas. Report Warns New York of Perils of Global Warming. The New York Times, June 30, 1999, p. B5.
The North Carolina coast is a large part of the economy and brings countless people joy each year. Unfortunately, coastal environments are constantly being reshaped by tides and waves by moving and depositing sediment. This reshaping of the coast causes houses and bridges to be undermined as longshore currents move sand away from certain areas to others. Also, channels for boats migrate and fill with sand making industry and travel challenging. Despite efforts to stabilize areas, waves constantly batter the shore erasing all attempts. Due to all the social and economical effects coastal environments have on the state of North Carolina, it is essential to find an effective method to stabilize these areas while reducing the cost.
Rising sea levels as a result of global warming is now a widely publicised concern as strategies are currently being implemented to respond to them. However, global sea-levels have fluctuated many hundreds of metres either way of the present day sea-level and this essay proposes to examine mechanisms of sea-level change past and present and the its geomorphological impacts on the coasts.
Coastal Erosion is a process at Muriwai that gradually wears away the rock particles of the earth's surface, transporting them to another location. There are many types of processes that cause erosion at Muriwai such as wave erosion, wind erosion and wave refraction.
“The sandy beach is a harsh, constantly changing environment,” explained by the UKMCS (2). This is the ocean is constantly moving because of the wind in the earth’s atmosphere (Crawford 4). Along the edge of most coastlines, a commonly found zone is an estuary (Marine Conservation Society (UK) SouthEast 1). This is where brackish waters, an area where freshwater is released and mixed with the ocean’s salt water, is created (1). However, even though there are small amounts of freshwater added, this does not change that the salinity of the ocean is remarkably high.
The problem with contaminated beaches will soon take effect on everyone. The main causes that pollution creates in the beaches are from heavy rainfall, natural disasters, and plant malfunctions. Government agencies cannot control the weather, but they can control what goes into the water. In the United States, the number one reason why beaches are closed down are due to contamination in the water that may be harmful and are left untreated. The arising problem with the beach is that the industries are producing toxic chemicals and tossing the unwanted waste into the ocean. Also, the public are recklessly throwing their trash out into the streets. A prime example to demonstrate this is, if someone was trying to throw a bottle into a street trashcan but missed, he/she is unlikely to pick up after himself/herself if no one was around to see it. This scenario causes pollution to the sidewalks. When mother nature disasters occur, these waste products will end up in the storm drains and into the sewage system. The overflow of debri from the cities can flow into the rivers and if not preserved, it can flow into the ocean. The rivers will then carry these human caused waste into t...