Morphodynamics in Tropical Beaches of Varying Energy Regimes

Abstract

Earth’s coastline defines the interface between land and water. Although the area they cover is insignificant, their linear extent is enormous and the variety of landforms they evolve over earth’s surface is remarkable. Over one third of the world’s population lives either at the coasts or in adjacent coastal low land areas. The coast is a zone of intense energy input. This energy transported by waves, arrives at the coast and is available for work. The result is that the processes of sediment transport are set in motion – processes that cause morphological change. Thus the coasts are the most rapidly changing places on earth's surface and they play an important role in global transportation of sediments and hence studies on the coastal zone where air, land and water interact is a focus of particular interest among the scientific community. The coastal areas across the world are also of extreme economic importance as they contain abundant natural resources and favorite tourist destinations because of their highly scenic landscape