Anthropogenic Effects on Coastal Sediment Fluxes in a Nontidal Gulf System
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 6
Abstract
This paper presents the results of studies of the physical processes observed in the coastal zone of the eastern part of the Gulf of Gdańsk, from the Vistula river mouth (Poland) to Cape Taran (Russia, Kaliningrad Oblast), because it is under severe environmental and anthropogenic pressure. We present investigations of wind climate, wind-driven currents, deep-water waves, nearshore sediment fluxes, engineering activities, and shoreline changes/response at eight study sites selected along the coast of the study area. Four of the sites are located on the Polish side and four on the Russian side of the state border. An assessment of the anthropogenic impact on coastal litho- and morphodynamics (local sediment fluxes and shoreline response) as a function of different local hydrodynamic climates is performed. Key coastal locations in the Gulf (the Vistula river mouth, the Baltijsk Strait with the harbor of Baltijsk, and the mining plants near Jantarnyj), where natural sediment morphological processes have been affected by human activities, are particularly analyzed. Even in the same system (Gulf of Gdańsk), sites located close to each other and subject to similar anthropogenic activities can display quite different evolutionary patterns. In some cases, anthropogenic effects may be secondary to natural background conditions.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the reviewers, especially to Dr. Julie Dean Rosati and an anonymous referee #4, for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. The study was sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland, under the IBW PAN statutory program No. 2, and by the Russian Academy of Sciences, under the statutory research carried out at AB IO RAS. We also acknowledge the joint research project entitled Development of the scientific basis for shore protection of South Baltic coast, carried out by IBW PAN and AB IO RAS within the “Agreement on Scientific Cooperation between the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences” in the period 2010–2013.
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Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 6 • November 2012
Pages: 491 - 500
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 6, 2011
Accepted: Apr 2, 2012
Published online: Apr 11, 2012
Published in print: Nov 1, 2012
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