EurOCEAN 2000 - Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee

EUROPEAN SHORE PLATFORM DYNAMICS (ESPED):
MONITORING THE DOWNWEARING OF SHORE PLATFORMS
IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION OF
ROCKY COASTS
Rendel Williams 1 , César Andrade 2 , Yolanda Foote 1 , Joan Fornos 3 ,
Yannick Lageat 4 , Alain Miossec 5 , Cherith Moses 1 , David Robinson 1 and Jan Swantesson 6
1 Centre for Environmental Research, CPES, University of Sussex, England;
2 Departamento de Geologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal;
3 Departament de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain;
4 Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, France;
5 IGARUN, Université de Nantes, France;
6 Institutionen for Natur & Miljo, Geovetenskap & Geografi, Karlstads Universitet, Sweden.
SUMMARY
The ESPED project has three main objectives:
1) to monitor the evolution of shore platforms in the EU by
• establishing rates of downwearing of the platforms in a wide range of coastal
environments
• studying changes in the surface morphology of the platforms
• measuring the rate of sea cliff recession in order to relate it to the rate of platform lowering
2) to enhance understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes that control
platform evolution
3) to model the evolution of shore platforms over time in order to predict the effects of
proposed engineering structures and possible changes in sea level.
INTRODUCTION
Inter-tidal shore platforms are a common feature of many European rocky shores. They are
especially well developed in areas of cliffed coastline. The platforms help to protect the cliffs
and also sea walls and other engineering structures by absorbing and reducing wave energy.
Paradoxically, despite their importance in coastal defence and coastal management, shore
platforms remain poorly studied and little is known about the erosive processes that both shape
and destroy them. It is generally assumed that wide platforms are much more protective than
narrow platforms, but platform gradient is probably also important. Models exist regarding the
evolution of platforms over time but there has been little empirical research to test the validity
of the models. Much research to date has been concerned not with the platforms but with
determining the rates of cliff retreat and on the design of engineering structures to protect the
base of rapidly eroding cliffs along the increasingly urbanised shorelines of Europe. However,
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