Beach ridge systems – archives for Holocene coastal events?

Abstract

Holocene coastal evolution has been extensively studied by workers from various earth science disciplines, particularly sedimentologists and geomorphologists. Some of these studies have focused on the history of regional sea-level changes in various ocean basins and the mechanisms – such as eustasy, glacio-isostasy, sediment compaction, neotectonics and climatic forces – involved in such changes. Although beach ridges have been used to identify steps in coastal evolution, only in a few cases have beach ridge systems been investigated with respect to event histories (for example, cyclones and tsunamis). Beach ridge systems, however, belong to the most promising geo-archives for the study of climate change and sea-level variations over the Holocene, as well as for deciphering event histories. This paper presents examples of some studies in this field, in relation to a global overview of beach ridge systems and their morphological characteristics.