Study on Headland-Bay Sandy Coast Stability in South China Coasts

Headland-bay beach equilibrium planform has been a crucial problem abroad to long-term sandy beach evolution and stabilization, extensively applied to forecast long-term coastal erosion evolvement and the influences of coastal engineering as well as long-term coastal management and protection. However, little concern focuses on this in China. The parabolic relationship is the most widely used empirical relationship for determining the static equilibrium shape of headland-bay beaches. This paper utilizes the relation to predict and classify 31 headland-bay beaches and concludes that these bays cannot achieve the ultimate static equilibrium planform in South China. The empirical bay equation can morphologically estimate beach stabilization state, but it is just a referential predictable means and is difficult to evaluate headland-bay shoreline movements in years and decades. By using Digital Shoreline Analysis System suggested by USGS, the rates of shoreline recession and accretion of these different headland-bay beaches are quantitatively calculated from 1990 to 2000. The conclusions of this paper include that （a） most of these 31 bays maintain relatively stable and the rates of erosion and accretion are relatively large with the impact of man-made constructions on estuarine within these bays from 1990 to 2000; （b） two bays, Haimen Bay and Hailingshan Bay, originally in the quasi-static equilibrium planform determined by the parabolic bay shape equation, have been unstable by the influence of coastal engineering; and （c） these 31 bays have different recession and accretion characters occuning in some bays and some segments. On the one hand, some bays totally exhibit accretion, but some bays show erosion on the whole. Shanwei Bay, Houmen Bay, Pinghai Bay and Yazhou Bay have the similar planforms, characterized by less accretion on the sheltering segment and bigger accretion on the transitional and tangential segments. On the other hand, different segments of some bays have two dissimilar evolvement characters. Dacheng Bay, Shenquan Bay, Hudong Bay, Wukan Bay, Fengjia Bay, Wuchang Bay, Lingshui Bay and Tufu Bay produce accretion on the tangential segment, erosion on the transitional segment and accretion on the sheltering segment. However, Guang＇ao Bay, Haimen Bay, Jinghai Bay, Sanya Bay（a）, Dajiao Bay, Hailingshan Bay, Hebei Bay, Fuhu Bay, Shuidong Bay, Wangcun Bay and Bomao Bay generate erosion on the tangential part, accretion on the transitional part and accretion on the sheltering part. It seems to imply some relations between headland-bay beach evolvement and controls on headland-bay beaches, which may possibly to classify headland-bay beach types and should be further studied.

Typical Equilibrium Beach Profile Models and Their Significances from Different Segments of A Headland-Bay Beach

This study introduces three typical models on equilibrium beach profile, and discusses the application limitations of these models. Then this study examines the selections for applying these models on different coastal segments of a headland-bay beach in west Guangdong, South China, and explores the physical significances of those parameters in the models. The results indicate that：（1） Bodge＇s model is more in line with the equilibrium beach profile of the tangential or transitional segment, whereas Lee＇s model is more consistent with the shadow profile;（2） most of the parameters in three models have clear physical significances in accordance with the actual characteristics of this headland-bay beach; and（3） both the selections for the equilibrium beach profile from different segments and significances of most of the parameters in three models are in essence correlated with the morphodynamic states at various coastal locations.

Wave-dominated,mesotidal headland-bay beach morphodynamic classsfications of the Shuidong Bay in South China

Beach morphodynamic classifications have achieved extensive acceptance in foreign coastal geomorphological studies. Three beaches located in different zones of a headland-bay coast are classified according to a dimensionless fall parameter, a relative tide range parameter and a dimensionless embayment scaling parameter. Synchronous data, including wave, tide, sediment and beach morphology, are respectively collected from the tangential beach, the transitional beach and the shadow beach of the Shuidong Bay during each spring tide for 16 successive months. The research results indicate that （1） the beach in the tangential zone falls between two major categories which are low tide terrace beaches with rips and barred beaches; the beach in the transitional zone exhibits two main types which are low tide bar/rip beaches and barred dissipative beaches; and the beach in the shadow zone mainly mirrors dissipative states with presence or absence of bars; and （2） the sequential changes and differences of beach states in different coastal zones reflect spatial and temporal variabilities of the headland- bay coast, totally meeting the actual measured beach morphology changes, showing that studies on wave- dominated, meso-macrotidal beaches need to consider the influences of the tides. Meanwhile, the research mainly provides a framework about beach state studies, due to different beach states with different erosion patterns, which requires the need to strengthen the researches in this respect, in order to further enrich theoretical basis for a beach topography evolution, beach morphodynamic processes and beach erosion orevention in China.

Application of the Static Headland-Bay Beach Concept to a Sandy Beach: A New Elliptical Model

The headland-bay beach is one of the most common coastal types in the world.Its morphology reflects the changes that occurred during long-term evolution of the sandy coast.Several headland-bay beach models have been proposed to simulate the coastline’s configuration in equilibrium.In this paper,a new elliptical model is proposed,described,and applied.On the east coast of Laizhou Bay in Shandong Province from Longkou Port to Diaolongzui,four typical headland-bay beaches have developed,and four headland-bay beach models are used in this paper to simulate the morphology of these beaches to assess the applicability of each model.The simulation results of the elliptical model verify that it is applicable to the study area.In addition,the elliptical model is easy to use.Through simulation and field investigations,we concluded that most of the coastal segments in this area will remain in an erosion state,and the human activity has a significant impact on the shoreline’s evolution.