TY - JOUR
T1 - Scale-dependent perspectives on the geomorphology and evolution of beach-dune systems
AU - Walker, Ian
AU - Davidson-Arnott, Robin G.D.
AU - Bauer, Bernard O.
AU - Hesp, Patrick A.
AU - Delgado-Fernandez, Irene
AU - Ollerhead, Jeff
AU - Smyth, Thomas A.G.
N1 - Funding Information:
Foremost, the authors acknowledge the incredible research partnership and support provided by Parks Canada Agency (PCA) at the Greenwich Dunes in Prince Edward Island (PEI) National Park. PCA staff A. Doyle (Maintenance Supervisor), D. Lajeunesse and K. Tulk (Park Ecologists), and R. Steadman and P. McCabe (Wardens) provided invaluable assistance and encouragement throughout our years of research. A multitude of student researchers and assistants were also instrumental to this work, including: R. Bams, J. Booth, C. Chapman, I. Darke, P. Johnson, G. Manson, L. Olsen, K. Pearce, K. Penrose, A. Pons, K. Powell, H. Rhew, R. Smith, M. Sojan, M. Trites, and Y. Yang. The research was supported financially by grants from PCA-PEI National Park (Project No. PEI-2002-01R ) to R. Davidson-Arnott, J. Ollerhead and I. Walker with additional research funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant and Special Research Opportunities programs to Davidson-Arnott, Bauer, Ollerhead, and Walker ( 239751-2011 ). I. Walker also recognizes research infrastructure support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Leader's and New Opportunities programs (projects #4632 and 29502) and support from UVic and Arizona State University . B. Bauer acknowledges support from UBC-Okanagan and P. Hesp recognizes contributions from Flinders University, LSU, and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). J. Ollerhead recognizes logistical support from the Mount Allison Coastal Wetlands Institute, funded by CFI. I. Delgado-Fernandez acknowledges substantial support from the University of Guelph and funding from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program. T. Smyth recognizes support from Flinders University and Liverpool Hope University . Incredibly helpful graphical assistance was provided by M. Puddister and fantastic technical support with instrumentation by M. Finoro and S. McLean. Finally, we thank T. Horscroft of Elsevier for the invitation to provide this review as well as two anonymous reviewers and Associate Editor J. Florsheim who provided constructive comments that vastly improved the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2017/8
Y1 - 2017/8
N2 - Despite widespread recognition that landforms are complex Earth systems with process-response linkages that span temporal scales from seconds to millennia and spatial scales from sand grains to landscapes, research that integrates knowledge across these scales is fairly uncommon. As a result, understanding of geomorphic systems is often scale-constrained due to a host of methodological, logistical, and theoretical factors that limit the scope of how Earth scientists study landforms and broader landscapes. This paper reviews recent advances in understanding of the geomorphology of beach-dune systems derived from over a decade of collaborative research from Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. A comprehensive summary of key findings is provided from short-term experiments embedded within a decade-long monitoring program and a multi-decadal reconstruction of coastal landscape change. Specific attention is paid to the challenges of scale integration and the contextual limitations research at specific spatial and/or temporal scales imposes. A conceptual framework is presented that integrates across key scales of investigation in geomorphology and is grounded in classic ideas in Earth surface sciences on the effectiveness of formative events at different scales. The paper uses this framework to organize the review of this body of research in a 'scale aware’ way and, thereby, identifies many new advances in knowledge on the form and function of subaerial beach-dune systems. Finally, the paper offers a synopsis of how greater understanding of the complexities at different scales can be used to inform the development of predictive models, especially those at a temporal scale of decades to centuries, which are most relevant to coastal management issues. Models at this (landform) scale require an understanding of controls that exist at both ‘landscape’ and ‘plot’ scales. Landscape scale controls such as sea level change, regional climate, and the underlying geologic framework essentially provide bounding conditions for independent variables such as winds, waves, water levels, and littoral sediment supply. Similarly, a holistic understanding of the range of processes, feedbacks, and linkages at the finer plot scale is required to inform and verify the assumptions that underly the physical modelling of beach-dune interaction at the landform scale.
AB - Despite widespread recognition that landforms are complex Earth systems with process-response linkages that span temporal scales from seconds to millennia and spatial scales from sand grains to landscapes, research that integrates knowledge across these scales is fairly uncommon. As a result, understanding of geomorphic systems is often scale-constrained due to a host of methodological, logistical, and theoretical factors that limit the scope of how Earth scientists study landforms and broader landscapes. This paper reviews recent advances in understanding of the geomorphology of beach-dune systems derived from over a decade of collaborative research from Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. A comprehensive summary of key findings is provided from short-term experiments embedded within a decade-long monitoring program and a multi-decadal reconstruction of coastal landscape change. Specific attention is paid to the challenges of scale integration and the contextual limitations research at specific spatial and/or temporal scales imposes. A conceptual framework is presented that integrates across key scales of investigation in geomorphology and is grounded in classic ideas in Earth surface sciences on the effectiveness of formative events at different scales. The paper uses this framework to organize the review of this body of research in a 'scale aware’ way and, thereby, identifies many new advances in knowledge on the form and function of subaerial beach-dune systems. Finally, the paper offers a synopsis of how greater understanding of the complexities at different scales can be used to inform the development of predictive models, especially those at a temporal scale of decades to centuries, which are most relevant to coastal management issues. Models at this (landform) scale require an understanding of controls that exist at both ‘landscape’ and ‘plot’ scales. Landscape scale controls such as sea level change, regional climate, and the underlying geologic framework essentially provide bounding conditions for independent variables such as winds, waves, water levels, and littoral sediment supply. Similarly, a holistic understanding of the range of processes, feedbacks, and linkages at the finer plot scale is required to inform and verify the assumptions that underly the physical modelling of beach-dune interaction at the landform scale.
KW - Aeolian geomorphology
KW - Airflow dynamics
KW - Beaches
KW - Coastal erosion
KW - Coastal geomorphology
KW - Computational fluid dynamics
KW - Foredunes
KW - Sand
KW - Sand dunes
KW - Sediment transport
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U2 - 10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.04.011
DO - 10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.04.011
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85033731311
SN - 0012-8252
VL - 171
SP - 220
EP - 253
JO - Earth-Science Reviews
JF - Earth-Science Reviews
ER -