Coastal Evolution
Late Quaternary Shoreline Morphodynamics

A 1995 review of how shorelines have changed since the last Ice Age, and what this implies for future environmental management.

R. W. G. Carter (Edited by), C. D. Woodroffe (Edited by), Orson van de Plassche (Foreword by)

9780521598903, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 April 1997

540 pages, 166 b/w illus. 5 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.72 kg

'The overall quality of the writing and editing is very good. In fact the whole book is excellent in concept and in execution. It will serve as the latest and the last word on the subject for years to come. Highly recommended for all geologists and other environmental scientists, together with engineers, planners and others involved in any way with coastal processes.' Choice 'I strongly recommend this book to all coastal students and researchers … a coherent volume … '. M. J. Shepherd, Institute of Australian Geographers

The shoreline is a rapidly changing interface between the land and the sea, where much of the world's population lives. Coasts are under threat from a variety of natural and anthropogenic impacts, such as climate or sea-level change. This 1995 book assesses how coastlines change, and how they have evolved over the last few thousand years. It introduces concepts in coastal morphodynamics, recognising that coasts develop through co-adjustment of process and form. Particular types of coast, such as deltas, estuaries, reefs, lagoons and polar coasts, are examined in detail with conceptual models developed on the basis of well-studied examples. Coastal Evolution is written for undergraduates who are studying coastal geomorphology, geologists who are mapping coastal sedimentary sequences and environmental scientists, engineers, planners and coastal managers who need to understand the natural processes of change which occur on shorelines.

Foreword O. van de Plassche
1. Coastal evolution: an introduction R. W. G. Carter and C. D. Woodroffe
2. Morphodynamics of coastal evolution P. Cowell and B. Thom
3. Deltaic coasts J. Suter
4. Wave-dominated coasts P. Roy, P. Cowell, M. Ferland and B. Thom
5. Macrotidal estuaries J. Chappell and C. D. Woodroffe
6. Lagoons and microtidal coasts J. A. G. Cooper
7. Coral atolls R. McLean and C. D. Woodroffe
8. Continental shelf reef systems D. Hopley
9. Arctic coastal plain shorelines P. Hill, P. Barnes, A. Héquette and M. H. Ruz
10. Paraglacial coasts D. Forbes and J. Syvitski
11. Coastal cliffs and platforms G. Giggs and A. Trenhaile
12. Evolution of tectonic shorelines P. Pirazzoli
13. Developed coasts K. Nordstrom
Index.

Subject Areas: Deltas, estuaries, coastal regions [RGBP]