Coastal and Estuarine Environments: Sedimentology, Geomorphology and Geoarchaeology

The book“Coastal and Estuarine Environments: Sedimentology, Geomorphology and Geoarchaeology” arose from a 1998 London conference uniting researchers across sedimentology, geomorphology, archaeology and environmental sciences. With over 200 international delegates, the conference fostered illuminating discussions on fundamental coastal geomorphology and the complex interrelationships between natural processes, landforms and human activities in coastal zones. The resulting book synthesizes these multifaceted perspectives to provide a state-of-the-art overview of coastal environments. Through the lens of sediments, landforms, and archaeology, chapters explore the dynamics of beaches, tidal flats, deltas, reefs and more. Case studies and data from diverse coastal settings illustrate concepts vividly.

The conference garnered sponsorship from esteemed organizations, namely the British Sedimentological Research Group, the British Geomorphological Research Group, and English Heritage, with supplementary backing from the Environmental Sedimentology Committee of the International Association of Sedimentologists. The editors wish to extend their sincere gratitude to these organizations, along with the Geological Society.

The principal themes of this title are:

(1) The nature of basic processes affecting coasts and estuaries and their relationship to morphological and Sedimentological changes on timescales ranging from months to millenia, and at spatial scales ranging from tens of metres to tens of kilometres;

(2) The effects of changes in the natural environmental forcing factors on coastal and estuarine morphology and sedimentary characteristics, and the implications for human activities and their record;

(3) The impacts of human activities and their record on coastal and estuarine processes and morphology;

(4) Issues relating to the future management and conservation of the natural and archaeological heritage, including outstanding problems and future research needs.

The publication of “Coastal and Estuarine Environments: Sedimentology, Geomorphology, and Geoarchaeology” includes 29 papers, chosen from a total of 32 oral presentations and over 30 poster presentations given at the conference. These papers incorporate examples from diverse regions worldwide, demonstrating the global scope of the research presented. We have broadly organized the ordering of chapters to align with the sequence of the four main themes, commencing with shorter-term and smaller-scale aspects and progressing towards longer-term, larger-scale, and management issues. There is, naturally, considerable overlap between themes in many of the contributions.

We aim for it to have a profound impact on how we perceive the interplay of natural processes, historical changes, and the documentation of human activities in coastal and estuarine environments, influencing the way they are considered in future management practices.

The need for breadth of approach, and a willingness toward sympathetic communication between different specialists, has never been greater.