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Physics of estuaries and coastal seas
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Naturally restored coastline: definition and examples
P-P1-18
Jianjun Jia* , School of Marine Sciences, East China Normal University
Xiaoming Xia, Second Institute of Oceanography, SOA
Tinglu Cai, Second Institute of Oceanography, SOA
Xinkai Wang, Second Institute of Oceanography, SOA
Presenter Email: jjjia@sklec.ecnu.edu.cn |
| Coastline is an artificially delimited line that divides earth surface into two parts: land and ocean, which is usually defined as the high water mark of mean spring tides. Traditional classification for natural coastline could be described as a three-part system, in terms of sediment composition: rocky, sandy and muddy coastlines. Human activities, however, created a brand-new type of coastline, i.e., artificial coastline, including seawall, dyke, port and harbor and other buildings that take the place of natural coastlines. In China, artificial coastline occupies more than two thirds of the 18000 km-long mainland coasts in 2010, a sharp contrast to the number of one thirds in 1980's. It is by no means a pleasant scenery when people go to the coasts and find nothing but concrete constructions. Therefore, the ratio of natural coastline to total coastline in a coastal region or country is adopted as an important indicator of ecological health. We have one option only to improve this indicator: ecological restoration. However, we have two directions for this options: with dike excavation VS without dike excavation. In this presentation, we show some recent practices in Zhejiang Province with special references to inventory of Naturally Restored Coastline (NRC). Most NRC are coastline defined over muddy flat, located outside of artificial along-coast constructions, where elevation, slope, seabed materials and vegetation of restored coastline are identified with natural coasts. It is helpful for coastal zone protection and sustainable development to introduce the concept of NRC in that, considerable times are need during which the ecological function of intertidal zone would be restored after construction of artificial along-coast building. |
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