Adelaide's Beach Case Study

Over the last 30 years, sand has been needed to replenish the beaches at Brighton and Glenelg North in particular, and this has been taken mostly from Glenelg, the Torrens Outlet, Grange and Semaphore. Sand has also been dredged offshore from North Haven. In all, the average quantity of sand moved along the Adelaide coast has been over 100,000 cubic metres each year.

These strategies are sustainable and appropriate however more immediate action should be taken based on visitors’ opinions and beliefs. Coastal management strategies are simply requirement strategies like council clean ups, and does not include necessary updates and improvements in facilities and stores. This beach is lacking in short and long term major improvement plans as it’s an undervalued beach in contrast to more populated beaches. Councils and governments are putting off major plans for a small town beach which is the reason for its slow upgrade time period and lack of serious management.

Wind and waves affect Glenelg as they set up a northward drift of sand along the coast and this type of sand movement is known as littoral drift. During coastal storms, huge quantities of sand are eroded and this does damage to near shore, beach and sand dune areas. Glenelg is not considered to be a stable as beach as many others are. Seagrass loss and seabed instability that affect Glenelg is that a third of seagrass meadows along the coasts of Glenelg has died since 1950 and poor water quality resulting from the stormwater runoff and effluent disposal has most likely been the initial cause. When there are gaps in the seagrass meadows the sand below the meadow edge can be eroded by the waves and this will in turn increase the rate of seagrass loss and make it difficult for plants to recolonise the seafloor, even though the water quality has been improved. Sea levels affect Glenelg as parts of Glenelg are being subsided as a result of climate change and a relative sea level rise of one to two millimetres per year has been recorded for Glenelg. “As a result of the loss of sand from the seabed, the level of the seabed has steadily become up to one metre deeper and the wave energy reaching our beaches has increased.” (Adelaide’s Living Beaches Strategies,

Seawalls are also strategies that Cronulla and Collaroy implement on their beaches. However, the seawalls in Collaroy are buried under the sand and are only visible after large-scale erosion events. Whereas Cronulla beach’s seawalls are visible and reduce the scenic

The aim of this report is to investigate Long Reef and Collaroy Beach’s coastal management.

There are 2 types of beaches. One is erosion dominant and the other is deposition

The Year 10 geography field trip was an insightful experience into the workings and functioning of metropolitan coastlines here in South Australia. The day consisted of visiting various beaches in Adelaide that were influenced by some form of hard or soft engineering techniques that changed the natural processes of the beaches. What was evident from this trip was how much these beaches have been changed to an extent where it is unlikely that they will ever go back to the way they were prior to human settlement.

Coastal Management in Hastings is effective economically, socially, environmentally and is sustainable for the future.

The more coastal erosion there is, the higher the chance is for saltwater contaminating freshwater resources and the salt from the ocean can cause soil to be uninhabitable to plants (Again this can affect agriculture). Coastal erosion is not only an issue for water resources, it’s also a direct issue for the communities. The communities on islands lay very close to the coast and important infrastructures are one of them. Islands cannot get all of their resources from the local farmers, so they import it via plane or boat. The problem with that is the airports and ports are all on the coast. Coastal erosion has the power to ruin airport runways and docks of the harbors and ports; this means that eventually communities will be starved of basic necessities and there will be no way of getting in basic needs. Not only will airports be ruined, so will our tourism industry. Coastal erosion will eventually ruin the beaches that attract tourists. Island communities depend on the tourism industry because that industry brings in a lot of money every year. Without tourists, communities will struggle financially. Lastly, the ecosystem of the islands will suffer the

period of time have increased the size of the beach. Enviromental organisations have tried there best to limit the amount of man made deveoplment on coastal lads and many schools

If you have ever lived in proximity to coastal areas you may have seen coastline erosion first hand. The beaches you frequent during the summer may seem to be getting smaller and smaller every year. Why does your favorite beach seem to be disappearing? Coastal erosion is to blame. The waves, wind, tides and currents all play a part in the mechanism that is coastal erosion. When water and wind batter the shoreline sediments are carried out to sea and deposited on the sea floor or at other points along the coastline. This is called an erosional coastline. This erosion may be very apparent or seem to have happened overnight when it happens due to a large storm or extremely high tide.

The topic I have chosen for the assignment is the human impacts that are placed on the beaches and coast of Warrnambool, namely areas around the Merri Island Sanctuary. This also incorporates locations including Stingray bay, the breakwater, Shelly beach and Middle Island.

The human impact on the reef has caused a lot of damage and so in 1971 the City of Onkaparinga, State Government, Coast care groups and environmental organisations all had supported a decision to protect the reef. So the reef has now a reserved part which is protected and separated from the one open to tourists. The positive effect of human intervention has been creating this 300 ha of aquatic reserve to safe

Barrier beaches are not static, they are constantly being changed (Coastal Change ) by the forces that formed them; waves and wind. One change effecting barrier beaches is they are moving closer to the main coast. This movement is caused by the rise in sea level. As the sea level rises waves crash higher and higher upon the beach, as they do this the dunes are pushed back. There are also seasonal changes in the barrier beaches. During stormy seasons sand is removed from the beach and deposited off shore on the longshore bar. During calm season waves redeposit sand upon the beach and the beach grows.

While the recreation reserve provides a buffer between the developed areas and the beach it can be seen that the recreational space as well as the carpark have been developed on the tertiary dune which can be seen in figure 2 and 4. By eliminating the tertiary dune the capacity of the beach to rebuild following seasons of erosion is significantly reduced as less sand is available. The erosion of the dune system combined with the impact of development on the tertiary dune further expose the beach to weather events as well as reducing the capacity for recovery. This has the impact of substantially increasing the susceptibility of Peregian Beach to current and future weather events and erosional periods. In addition, the significant population growth rate of 6.9% results in development which will likely further encroach on the dune system as well as increase human movement resulting in increases in erosion and decreases in the capacity of the beach to recover. With this being the case, it could be concluded that due to the increased vulnerability of the beach in combination with the decreased capacity to recover, the level of susceptibility at Peregian Beach is relatively