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The Coastal Compartment Concept and its Importance for Coastal

Management

Research · April 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1299.0321

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 The coastal compartment concept and
its importance for coastal management
RESEARCH ESSAY

Forwallpaper.com

Nicolas Pucino
UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG | SPRING 2015
 Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2
The concept ...................................................................................................................................... 2

The sediment budget ........................................................................................................................ 4

The boundaries of the coastal compartment ..................................................................................... 4

The agents .................................................................................................................................... 6

Marine erosion .................................................................................................................................. 6

Rivers contribution ........................................................................................................................... 6

Onshore / Offshore movement ......................................................................................................... 7

Subaerial erosion from the hinterland .............................................................................................. 8

Internal accretion .............................................................................................................................. 8

Deflation, dunes, inlets and submarine canyons .............................................................................. 9

Longshore drift ............................................................................................................................... 10

The environmental forcing (ENSO and wave climate): Narrabeen Beach and its “apparent”
rotation............................................................................................................................................ 11

Why is a coastal compartment approach so important?.......................... 13

References ................................................................................................................................. 14

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 1

The coastal compartment concept and its
importance for coastal management

Introduction

The interface between land and ocean is one of the most dynamic regions on the Earth’s surface
(Harley et al., 2011). Thus, coastal management and planning is crucial to a sustainable and durable
land use and to the appraisal of this complex ecosystem. A systematic approach is needed in order to
assess and quantify the fluxes of energy and sediment that are involved in such a relentlessly changing
area.
This first introductory chapter offers a description of the components of the coastal system (what it
is, how is defined and the sediment budget), followed by a presentation of the natural agents acting
as inputs, outputs, sinks or external forcing. The final conclusive chapter highpoints the importance
of considering the coastal compartment and all its components prior undertaking any coastal decision
affecting its sedimentary regime.

The concept

Inspired by the relatively easier stream catchment basin, the coastal compartment concept tries to
conceptualise the energy and sediment fluxes interacting with the compartment itself. The pioneering
works appeared in the USA (mainly California) around the end of the 1960s (Sanderson and Eliot,
1999); a catalyst for further conceptual developments like those of Davies (1974). In this
conceptualisation of the headlands-embayment system, balancing the coastal compartment sediment
equation means taking into account its sources and sinks, such as:
- onshore transport
- offshore transport
- longshore drift
- deflation
- sinks (submarine canyons, tidal deltas, inlets, dunes)
- internal biogenic production
- human engineering activities (dredging, nourishment, mining)

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 2

In figure 1 we can see the coastal sediment concept applied in a simplified way to Woonoona Beach
(NSW) with the major coastal processes influencing the sediment budget of the compartment.

Figure 1_Simplified coastal sediment conceptualisation of Woonoona Beach (NSW).

Figure 2 schematises figure 1, and Longshore drifting (LST) is considered both source and sink as it
passes through the compartment.

Figure 2_Rosati (2005). General sediment compartment conceptual model.

This systemic approach is very useful as “it gives us an unit within which we can monitor what is
happening, do our sums and calculate sediment budgets” (Davies, 1974).
Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 3
 The sediment budget

Also known as beach budget (Bird, 2008), the sediment budget for a defined beach compartment is
fundamental in coastal science and engineering for not only understanding behaviour and pathways
of sediments and energy but it often forms a common framework for discussions with colleagues and
sponsors involved in a study (Rosati, 2005).
The coastal sediment budget deals “ […] with the volumes of sediment supplied to a particular sector
by onshore and longshore drifting and yields from the hinterland and the volumes of sediment lost
offshore, alongshore or landward over a specific period.” (Bird, 2008). Dolan et al. (1987)
recommend elaborating a conceptual sediment budget as a qualitative model prior the actual
computation of the fluxes magnitudes. This gives a regional perspective of the major processes in
play, because “By definition, examination of sediment budgets at the littoral cell scale involves
research of large-scale coastal behaviour.” (List, 1993).

The boundaries of the coastal compartment

Rocky headlands protruding seaward, river

Figure 3_Above: Tamar River, northern Tasmania. Below: Santa
Monica (California) submarine canyons acting as sinks (source:
www.mbari.org)
Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015
mouths (Tamar River, Tasmania), tidal
entrances, submarine canyons (Santa Barbara,
California) or even groynes can virtually
isolate an embayed beach, creating a beach
compartment (see figure 3).
Most of the beaches in New South Wales are
bounded by headlands, however, defining
boundaries for a coastal compartment is not
easy task. A first identification of beach
compartment can be drafted by examining
charts, maps and vertical photography of the
coast but it is necessary to study the patterns
of coastal sediment flow to determine actual
self-contained compartment boundaries (Bird,
2008). In the past boundaries were placed
arbitrarily where it was visually most
meaningful (Davies, 1976) but subaerial
projection is not a reliable indicator of
4
longshore drift blockage as beach sediment may drift around the rocky headlands (nearshore up to
20m) (Bird, 2008). Davies (1974) states that boundaries have different “filtering effect” (blockage
efficacy) creating hierarchies of compartments of varying size and degree of exclusiveness. Tracer
studies of sediment movement, geomorphological and sedimentological evidences or analysis of the
spatial distribution of wave energy alongshore are common practices when it comes to define whether
sediment surpasses headlands or not (Sanderson and Eliot, 1999). Alternatively, statistical methods
have been used. Sanderson and Eliot (1999) define the boundaries of multiple compartments by
combining the collection of in situ data (sedimentological and environmental variables, such as width
of beach, surf zone and nearshore), local knowledge, and a suite of statistical techniques. Their
methodology can be summed up as follows:
1) petrological survey of the region
2) identification of geographically clustered similar sediment occurrence (auto-correlation)
3) identification of broad relationship between the sedimentary, geomorphologic and
environmental characteristics of the sediment clusters (variance analysis)
4) identification of the likely boundaries

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 5

The agents
This section gives an overview of the major natural processes which need to be taken into account
when assessing a beach budget along the coasts of south east Australia.

Marine erosion

Today in south east Australia, it

contributes only 1-5% to the shore
sediments because embayment and
headlands have different tempos
during which they evolve (Davies,
1976). In New South Wales, the
beaches near Seal Rocks (figure 4)
integrates sand and shingle eroded
from a Pleistocene barrier truncated
by marine erosion (Bird, 2008). Figure 4_Seal Rocks Beach (NSW). Source: www.ytravelblog-01

Rivers contribution

Although through geological time rivers were the first sediment providers, nowadays, in south eastern
Australia only a few are significantly contributing to the compartment, such as the Shoalhaven River
(Davies, 1976). As Carvalho and Woodroffe (2013) showed, the Shoalhaven River mouth (figure 5)
has been open and closed following cycles of higher/lower river depositional rates.

Figure 5_Shoalheaven closed mouth (November 2010). Source: www.wrl.unsw.edu-01

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 6

 Onshore / Offshore movement

Onshore sedimentation is primarily driven by waves. The sediment eroded from submerged
geological outcrops or collected from unconsolided bottom deposits swashed into beaches from the
sea floor (Short and Woodroffe, 2009; Bird, 2008). As the backwash get stronger than the swash
(especially when storm waves break parallel to the coastline), a more energetic seaward current
(eventually, rip currents and megarips) develops, transporting sediment in deeper water with an
offshore movement. If the offshore movement transport the sand beyond the neutral zone, sediments
are not readily re-transportable onshore by the waves. Sea-level fluctuation or changes in wave
climate might alter this situation,
activating the onshore sedimentation
again. Anyway, how Davies (1976)
states, “Potential gain and loss in
relation to the offshore zone is the most
difficult to assess and study [thus, it is]
usually the unknown value in the
sediment budget equation […]). While
this source of input along the
Australian coasts was really important
during the Holocene marine
transgression, forming entire beach
alone (such as Ninety Miles Beach, SE
Australia, figure 6) (Bird, 2008),
nowadays, there is no great deal of
sediment transported with this
mechanism (Davies, 1976). In
southern Australia this lack is partly
due to sea-grass hay (Zostera and

Figure 6_ Above: Ninety Miles Beach (SE Australia, source: www.australia-01). Posidonia) (figure 6), which
Below: Posidonia hay (source: www.loe.org-01)
abounding offshore and prevent the
landward movement on the seabed
(Bird, 2008).

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 7

 Subaerial erosion from the hinterland

As this process needs a considerable source of unconsolidated sediment, little or no vegetation and
winds blowing seaward, it is very characteristic of arid regions and it is of little importance along the
south eastern coasts of Australia. Locally though, there are some dunes which are close, bare and
sandy enough to the shore to become an important source of sediment nourishment, such as on to the
shores of Corner Inlet, Victoria (figure 7).

Figure 7_Wind-blown sand accumulation from Yanakie Dune to the Corner Inlet (VA).

Internal accretion

Bioproduction of sediment
originating directly from the seafloor
occurs notably along the tropical
coasts and mainly carbonate
fragments of various shelly
organisms, reef, calcareous algae and
Foraminifera compose it. Along the
south eastern Australia the
percentage of carbonate is less than
Figure 8_Beach carbonate rates around Australia’s coastline. Source: Short and 20% (see figure 8), indicating a weak
Woodroffe (2009).
contribution to the beach sediment.

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 8

 Deflation, dunes, inlets and submarine canyons

Dunes are the most obvious indicator of erosion by deflation occurring in sandy beaches. At the rear
of high-energy beaches, sand blown by the wind (deflation) accumulates in transgressive dunes more
or less elongated in the direction of the transporting winds (Davies, 1976). Sediment loss due to a
landward transport also occurs driven by wave and tidal currents, eventually ending up filling an inlet
or accumulating in thresholds in coastal lagoon or tidal deltas (see figure 9). Moreover, the presence
of submarine canyons along the nearshore environment must be considered, as sediment might be
lost in these natural gutters.

Figure 9_Port Haking (Sydney). Thresholds and tidal deltas are forming due to wave and tidal currents. The brown arrows indicate
landward sedimentary transportation.

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 9

 Longshore drift
Figure 10_Northward longshore drift from New South Wales alimenting
Fraser Island (Queensland).
Holocene has been moved northwards by the predominant northerly longshore drifting caused by
waves coming primarily by Southeast (Davies, 1976).
Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015
Longshore drift is a nearshore process,
which transports sediment with a zig-zag
movement due to the transverse swash
produced by obliquely arriving waves.
This process can be more or less
important depending on local factors
(such as wave energy, angle of breaking,
sand size, nearshore topography, beach
profile and tidal environment). The inner-
surf zone is the most energetic part of the
beach, where longshore currents are
strongest (Short and Woodroffe, 2009).
The net drift is orientated toward the
dominating direction of approaching
waves. This is the long term drift and it
can be either studied on the field (by
tracing sediment pathways movement) or
deduced by geomorphological features
such as the longshore growth of spits (see
figure 10), the deflection of river mouths
or the accumulation of beach sediment
alongside headlands or breakwaters
(Bird, 2008).
In northern New South Wales the sea is
cutting into older Pleistocene sands
because the sand deposited during
10
The environmental forcing (ENSO and wave climate): Narrabeen Beach and its “apparent” rotation

In order to accurately define a regional (or local) coastal compartment, not only the local variables
have to be taken into account, but the regional/global context in which the system takes place as well.
This is because the coastal compartment is sensitive to environmental feedbacks, which might be
powerful enough to make the system either oscillating around a mean equilibrium (negative
feedbacks), such as beach rotation (see figure 11), or migrate toward different states (positive
feedbacks), such as depleted and relic beach.

Figure 11_ Simplified concept of beach rotation according to SOI oscillations (La Niña-El Niño phases). The black-dashed line indicate
the “normal shoreline” while the green (El Niño) and the purple one (La Niña) show the opposite locations of accretion/erosion zones
in the compartment.

In other words, even small wave climate changes lead to considerable impacts on the embayed
shoreline (Harley et al., 2011). In the last decades, New South Wales beaches are experiencing a
damaging severe erosion trend occurring mostly at their southern ends, which are normally sheltered
by the headlands (Short, 1993). We tend to attribute this to environmental oscillations such as wave
climate, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Eliot and Clarke (1982) assessed the linkages between
these external forcing with periodic variations in subaerial beach volumes at Warrilla and Moruya,
New South Wales. Their results showed how sea level oscillations are at least as important as a change
in local wave climate. ENSO affects the cyclones or tropical storms in northeast Australia, which
generate north-easterly waves swashing south eastern coast of Australia switching on/off/alongshore
sediment direction.

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 11

Thanks to its remarkably long series of data (including RTK-GPS surveys and ARGUS datasets),
Collaroy-Narrabeen Beach, a virtually closed coastal compartment located 20 km to the north of
Sydney Harbour, hosts many studies concerned with trying to understand the factors controlling
beach rotation.
Ranasinghe et al. (2004) found that during a
negative Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)
indicating an El Niño phase, the northern part
of Collaroy-Narrabeen Beach accretes while
the southern one erodes (clockwise rotation).
During a positive SOI (La Niña), the trend is
inverted (counter wise rotation) because the
tropical storm occurrence is doubled which
shifts the dominant wave direction from normal
south-easterly swell to north-easterly storm
waves.
Nevertheless, Harley et al. (2011) revaluated
the Ranasinghe et al. model arguing how an
“alongshore differential in the cross-shore
transport of sediment in effect creates both an
overall landward movement and an apparent
counter clock rotation of the shoreline by
storms”. Figure 12 illustrates their findings. It
shows how the 60% (1st EOF) of the overall
shoreline variability is explained by the
differential cross-shore oscillation due to
Figure 12_Causes of the overall beach variability dominant wave
variation in the regional wave climate direction at Collaroy-Narrabeen Beach (NSW). Source: Harley et al.
(2011).
(storminess, wave height and direction) with a
significantly larger oscillation occurring at the northern end and the centre, while the south is
sheltered. Only the 26% of overall coastline variability seems to be due to the traditional model of
beach rotation caused by a reversal of alongshore sediment transport. Furthermore, only the 24% of
the wave directional shifts seems to be actually of 90 degrees or more (from south-easterly to north-
easterly). They conclude by highlighting how alongshore has been overestimated and more
importantly how even little tweaks can make a beach rotate.

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 12

Why is a coastal compartment approach so important?

As the beach is a valuable resource and the best form of coastal defence, it’s important to manage it
with a synoptical vision, achievable by assessing its sediment budget via a coastal compartment
approach. If the likely future implications of any human-induced modification to the sources, sinks
or processes acting on the coastal system are not acknowledged, a manager is not operating in a
durable and sustainable way. Moreover, as a sediment budget approach is based on measurement of
changes, it satisfies the need of certain monitoring projects of having standard systematic survey
programs to run over a period of time. It is safe to say that whenever the sedimentary system of a
beach has to be modified (nourishment, mining, dune management, erosion protection, etc.), the
beach budget needs to be considered.
The management of renourished or artificial beaches for example might be facilitated by both
inserting groynes to delimit smaller compartments and trap longshore drifting, and by installing
offshore breakwater for lowering the incident wave energy. Beach budget serve as unit of measure of
effectiveness of such measures and might indicate the volume of sand needed for renourishing an
(semi) artificial beach, based on the beach withdrawn post-storm (Bird, 2008).
For instance, in the Adelaide coast (SA), a GIS-approach contour line analysis accompanied the
calculation of a beach budget useful for beach nourishment projects (Fotheringham and Goodwins,
1990).
Sand mining is another example as it is all about available beach budget and extraction rates.
Urbanisation needs cement which needs quartz-rich beach sand to be produced. Silica or heavy metals
beach mining removes entire coastal dune systems, with huge impacts to the coastal ecosystem and
the sedimentary regime.
Many Sydney beaches were mined (Avalon and Narrabeen) and some are still active (figure 13)
(Short and Woodroffe, 2009).
Only thorough the application of the coastal
compartment concept a solid acknowledgment of
how the local (or regional) sediment system operate
can be achieved. It must be remembered that it
remains a systemic approach, a simplistic strategy;
it is the best compromise between achievable
scientific exactitude and non-achievable faultless

Figure 13_ Sand mining operations at Kurnell Peninsula,

understanding of Nature.
Sydney. Source: www.ssec.org.au

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 13

References

- Bird, E.C.F., 2008. Coastal geomorphology: an introduction, 2nd ed. ed. Wiley, Chichester,
England ; Hoboken, NJ.

- Carvalho, R. C. & Woodroffe, C. D. (2013). Shoalhaven river mouth: a retrospective analysis

of breaching using aerial photography, Landsat imagery and LiDAR. Proceedings of the 34th
Asian Conference on Remote Sensing 2013 (pp. SC03-592-1-SC03-592-7). Indonesia:
Indonesian Remote Sensing Society.

- Chapman, D.M., 1980. Coastal erosion and the sediment budget, with special reference to the
gold coast, Australia. Coastal Engineering 4, 207–227. doi:10.1016/0378-3839(80)90020-4

- Davies, J.L., 1974. The coastal sediment compartment. Australian Geographical Studies 12,
139–151. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8470.1974.tb00270.x

- Dolan, T.J.; Castens, P.G.; Sonu, C.J., and Egense, A.K., 1987. Review of Sediment Budget
Methodology: Oceanside Littoral Cell, California. Proceedings, Coastal Sediments ’87
(Reston, VA, ASCE), pp. 1289–1304.

- Eliot, I., Clarke, D., 1982. Temporal and spatial variability of the sediments budget of the
subaerial beach at Warilla, New South Wales. Marine and Freshwater Research 33, 945.
doi:10.1071/MF9820945

- Fotheringam, D.G., and Goodwins, D.R. (1990) Monitoring the Adelaide beach system.
Proceedings 1990 Workshop on Coastal Zone Management, Yeppon, Queensland, pp. 118-
132.

- Goodwin, I.D., Freeman, R., Blackmore, K., 2013. An insight into headland sand bypassing
and wave climate variability from shoreface bathymetric change at Byron Bay, New South
Wales, Australia. Marine Geology 341, 29–45. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2013.05.005

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 14

 - Harley, M.D., Turner, I.L., Short, A.D., Ranasinghe, R., 2011. A reevaluation of coastal
embayment rotation: The dominance of cross-shore versus alongshore sediment transport
processes, Collaroy-Narrabeen Beach, southeast Australia. Journal of Geophysical Research
116. doi:10.1029/2011JF001989

- List, J.H., Terwindt, J.H.J., 1995. Large-scale coastal behaviour. Marine Geology 126, 1–3.
doi:10.1016/0025-3227(95)00062-4

- Ranasinghe, R., McLoughlin, R., Short, A., Symonds, G., 2004. The Southern Oscillation
Index, wave climate, and beach rotation. Marine Geology 204, 273–287. doi:10.1016/S0025-
3227(04)00002-7

- Rosati, J.D., 2005. Concepts in Sediment Budgets. Journal of Coastal Research 212, 307–322.
doi:10.2112/02-475A.1

- Sanderson, P.G., Eliot, I., 1999. Compartmentalisation of beachface sediments along the
south-western coast of Australia. Marine Geology 162, 145–164. doi:10.1016/S0025-
3227(99)00046-8

- Short, A.D., 1993. Beaches of the New South Wales Coast. Australian Beach Safety and
Management Program, Sydney, 356 pp.

- Short, A.D., Woodroffe, C.D., 2009. The coast of Australia. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.

Nicolas Pucino, UOW Spring 2015 15

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