Simultaneous in-situ measurements of waves, currents, water depth, suspended sediment concentrations and bed profiles were made in a rip channel on Perranporth Beach, Cornwall, UK. Perranporth is a high energy beach (annual offshore Hs = 1.6 m) which is macro-tidal (mean spring range = 6.3 m) and the grain size is medium sand (D50 = 0.28 – 0.34 mm). It can be classified as a low tide bar – rip beach and exhibits a relatively flat inter-tidal zone with pronounced rhythmic low tide bar - rip morphology. Data were collected over two field campaigns, totalling 14 tidal cycles and including 27 occurrences of rip currents, in a range of offshore wave heights (Hs = 0.5 – 3 m). The in-situ measurements were supplemented with morphological beach surveys. Sediment samples were taken for grain size analysis. The rip current was found to be tidally modulated. The strongest rip flow (0.7 m/s) occurred at mid to low tide, when waves were breaking on the adjacent bar. Rip flow persisted when the bar had dried out at the lowest tidal elevations. The rip was observed to pulse at a very low frequency (VLF) with a period of 15 - 20 minutes, which was shown to be influenced by wave breaking on the adjacent bar. The rip was completely in-active at high tide. Bedforms were ubiquitous in the rip channel and occurred at all stages of the tide. Visual observations found bedforms to be orientated shore parallel. When the rip was active, mean bedform length and height was 1.45 m and 0.06 m respectively. The size and position of the bedforms in the nearshore suggested that they were best classified as megaripples. When the rip was not active, the mean bedform length and height was 1.09 m and 0.06 m respectively. In rip conditions, with typical mean offshore flow rates of > 0.3 m/s, the bedforms migrated in an offshore direction at a mean rate of 0.16 cm/min and a maximum rate of 4.6 cm/min. The associated mean bedform sediment transport rate was 0.0020 kg/m/s, with a maximum rate of 0.054 kg/m/s. In the rip, migration rates were correlated with offshore directed mean flow strength. In non-rip conditions, bedform migration was onshore directed with a mean rate of 0.09 cm/min and a maximum rate of = 2.2 cm/min. The associated mean bedform transport rate was 0.0015 kg/m/s, with a maximum rate of = 0.041 kg/m/s. The onshore bedform transport was correlated with incident wave skewness, and was weakly correlated with orbital velocity. Over a tidal cycle, the offshore directed bedform transport was only marginally larger in rip currents than when it was when onshore directed in non-rip conditions. Sediment suspension in the rip current was shown to be dependent on the presence of waves. Suspended sediment transport was dominated by the mean flux. The mean flux contributed > 70% of total suspended transport on 19 out of the 27 observed rip current occurrences. The net contribution of the oscillatory flux was small compared to the mean flux. Within the oscillatory component, a frequency domain partitioning routine showed that the VLF motion was an important mechanism for driving offshore directed sediment transport. This was balanced by onshore directed sediment transport at incident wave frequency of a similar magnitude. Depth integration showed that the mean total suspended sediment transport was in the range of 0.03 kg/m/s to 0.08 kg/m/s. At high tide, when the rip was inactive suspended sediment transport rates were minimal compared to when the rip was active. Bedform transport was (on average) 6% of the total suspended sediment transport in a rip current. The new results presented here show that rip currents make an important contribution to offshore directed sediment transport. The magnitudes of transport indicate that future improvements to morphology change models should include rip driven offshore sediment transport.

Coastal foredunes are natural aeolian bedforms located landward of the backshore and which interact continuously with the beach. Traditionally, coastal dunes have been associated with onshore winds, however they can be found under more complex wind regimes where offshore winds are common such as the UK East coast, Northern Ireland and New Zealand. This research investigates the ways in which foredune-beach interactions occur under a complex wind regime at a range of overlapping temporal and spatial scales and is innovative in that it explicitly links small-scale processes and morphodynamic behaviour to large scale and long-term dynamics. The study area is the north Lincolnshire coast, East England. Detailed observations of airflow at three locations under varying wind regimes revealed considerable spatial variations in wind velocity and direction, however it was possible to determine a general model of how foredune topography deflected and modified airflow and the resultant geomorphological implications (i.e. erosion and deposition). During direct offshore and onshore winds, airflow remained attached and undeflected; and distinct zones of flow deceleration and acceleration could be identified. During oblique winds airflow was deflected to become more parallel to the dune crest. The field sites used are characterized by a seasonal erosion/accretion cycle and a series of increasingly complex models was developed and tested to determine whether it was possible to predict sand volume changes in the foredune-beach system based on a limited number of variables. The model predictions were tested against detailed digital terrain models at a seasonal timescale. The model prediction that best matched the observed (surveyed) sand volume changes included wind speed, direction, grain size, fetch effect controlled by beach inundation and angle of wind approach was accurate to within ±10% for 18 out of 48 tests at the seasonal scale and 6 out of 12 tests over periods of >5 years. A key variable influencing foredune-beach sand volume is the magnitude and frequency of storm surge events and this was not factored in to the model, but may explain the model-observation mismatch over the medium-term on two occasions. Over the past 120 years historical maps and aerial photographs indicate long-term foredune accretion of approximately 2 m year-1 at the three study sites (1891-2010). At this timescale, rates of coastal foredune accretion reflect the low occurrence of severe storm surges and suggest rapid post-storm recovery. The morphological response of the foredune-beach morphology is considered to be a combination of controlling and forcing factors. Process-responses within the system, associated with nearshore interactions and sediment transfer from the littoral drift, are compiled into a multi-scale morphodynamic model. Important to match appropriate dataset to scale of research question or management plan being explored. In the case of management, long-term records of past activity are necessary to predict the future but also to understand natural responses of system to short-term impact such as storm surge.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-19T18:20:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ROGERIO HIDEKI FERREIRA FUNO.pdf: 30693055 bytes, checksum: af16bccd626d7723e5f5c13341ebd1d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-11-28 / Intertidal foraminifera are widely recognized as efficient tools for reconstructing Holocene sea-level changes. They are also used to detect water circulation patterns and to diagnose the physical and chemical characteristics of estuarine water, revealing the steady state of the ecosystem. In this work, surface sediment samples were collected to study recent foraminiferal assemblages in an estuarine portion of the Mapari river basin, Humberto de Campos (MA), Brazil, in two ways: (1) sixteen samples collected landwards along a mangrove transect in the Gato Island, near the mouth of the Mapari river, in the Tubarão Bay, from the tidal muddy flat to the hyperhaline bare flat ( apicum ); (2) nineteen samples collected upstreamwards along the Mapari river, from the Gato Island to the Rampa settlement, where salinity is zero. In the Gato Island transect, salinity and pH were measured and the subaerial exposure time (TES) was calculated for each point. Height and DBH were also measured for the main arboreous individuals. The salinity varied from euhaline to hyperhaline (maximum of 56 ), and demonstrated no relation to TES. It was observed the dominance of Rotaliina suborder almost all along the transect, which means that a vertical zonation of foraminiferal assemblages was not found. However, eight of the sixteen points were collected surrounding a meanderin tidal creek that follows the transect. Considering just these eight points, there is a zonation in two compartments: a lower compartment that groups six samples (TES varying from 36,46% to 58,51%), dominated by Elphidium gunteri, and an upper compartment that groups two samples (TES varying from 61,95% to 75,27%), dominated by Arenoparrela mexicana. In the Mapari river, salinity and pH were measured in surface and bottom water column, and the floristic composition of the channel margins was verified, with special attention to the species of Rhizophora genus. These species have a distribution related to the salinity gradient, that varied from freshwater to euhaline. Four ecofacies were defined: (1) ecofacies 1, that groups the six closest samples to the Tubarão Bay, with polyhaline-euhaline salinity, high diversity index (H ranging from 1,44 to 2,23 and D ranging from 0,48 a 0,69), with dominance of Elphidium gunteri and Nonion sp., significant presence of Ammonia tepida, Quinqueloculina seminulum and Arenoparrela mexicana, and almost exclusive dominance of Rhizophora mangle; (2) ecofacies 2, that groups the next five samples upstreamwards, with mesohaline-polyhaline salinity, dominance of Nonion sp. and E. gunteri, and coexistence of R. mangle, R. harrisonii and R. racemosa; (3) ecofacies 3, that groups five samples with salinity varying from freshwater to mesohaline, wide dominance of Miliammina fusca, with mangrove fringe dominated by R. harrisonii and R. racemosa; (4) ecofacies 4, that groups the three upstream samples, in freshwater environment, where foraminifera are virtually absent. The results corroborate that foraminiferal assemblages can be used as an efficient tool for recognizing the steady state of the complex estuarine environment, where abiotic parameters are highly variable. / Foraminíferos da zona entre-marés são amplamente reconhecidos como eficientes ferramentas para a reconstrução de variações do nível relativo do mar no Holoceno. São também usados para detectar padrões de circulação e diagnosticar as características físicas e químicas das massas d água em ambiente estuarino, revelando as condições dominantes desse ecossistema. Neste trabalho, foram coletadas amostras de sedimento superficial para estudo das associações de foraminíferos recentes, em uma porção estuarina da bacia do rio Mapari, município de Humberto de Campos (MA), Brasil, de duas formas: (1) dezesseis amostras coletadas ao longo de um perfil transversal a um manguezal na Ilha do Gato, próximo ao encontro do rio Mapari com a Baía de Tubarão, partindo da planície lamosa ao apicum; (2) dezenove amostras ao longo do rio Mapari, partindo da Ilha do Gato, com salinidade euhalina, até o povoado Rampa, onde a salinidade é zero. No perfil Ilha do Gato, foram feitas medições de salinidade e pH, e foi calculado o tempo de exposição subaérea (TES) em cada ponto, além de medições de altura e DAP dos principais indivíduos arbóreos. A salinidade varia variou de euhalina a hiperhalina (máximo de 56 ), e não demonstrou nenhuma relação com o TES. Foi observado o domínio da subordem Rotaliina em quase todo o perfil, de forma que não foi encontrada zonação altimétrica das associações de foraminíferos. Oito dos dezesseis pontos, entretanto, foram coletados na borda de um pequeno canal de maré que acompanha o perfil, sendo que, considerando apenas eles, há uma zonação em dois compartimentos, sendo o inferior, com 6 amostras (TES variando de 36,46% a 58,51%), dominado por Elphidium gunteri, e o superior, com 2 amostras (TES variando de 61,95% a 75,27%), dominado por Arenoparrela mexicana. No rio Mapari, foram feitas medições de salinidade e pH (superficial e de fundo para ambos), e foi verificada a composição florística das margens do canal, com especial atenção para as espécies do gênero Rhizophora. Estas espécies se distribuem segundo o gradiente de salinidade, que variou do euhalino à água doce. Quatro ecofácies foram definidas: (1) ecofácies 1, agrupando as 6 amostras mais próximas da Baía de Tubarão, com salinidade polihalina-euhalina, altos índices de diversidade (H variando de 1,44 a 2,23 e D variando de 0,48 a 0,69), domínio de Elphidium gunteri e Nonion sp., presença significativa de Ammonia tepida, Quinqueloculina seminulum e Arenoparrela mexicana, e domínio quase exclusivo de Rhizophora mangle; (2) ecofácies 2, agrupando as cinco amostras da seqüência, com salinidade mesohalina-polihalina, domínio de Nonion sp. e E. gunteri, e coexistência de R. mangle, R. harrisonii and R. racemosa; (3) ecofácies 3, agrupando cinco amostras, com salinidade variando de água doce a mesohalina, amplo domínio de Miliammina fusca, e ocorrência de Rhizophora harrisonii e Rhizophora racemosa; (4) ecofácies 4, agrupando 3 amostras, em ambiente de água doce, onde foraminíferos são virtualmente ausentes. As associações de foraminíferos se mostraram uma eficiente ferramenta para reconhecimento das condições dominantes do complexo ambiente estuarino, onde os parâmetros abióticos são muito variáveis.