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International Journal of Marine Science 2014, Vol.4, No.43, 1-9
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8
in late spring when the waves are becoming calmer
but the sediments tend to move shoreward and
construct steep beach faces. Moreover, the Caspian
Sea is not an open sea and it is reasonable that data
match the low wave energy curve.
4 Conclusion
Although the Caspian Sea is a unique natural
laboratory for studies related to coastal response
patterns there is a lack of information concerning the
southern Caspian Sea coast and this segment of the
coastline has not previously been adequately
explored. The results of three field surveys provided
a relatively comprehensive database for the Iranian
coast of the Caspian Sea. Data analysis shows that
sandy, gravelly and muddy beaches can be seen
along the southern segment of the Caspian Sea
shoreline. Nearshore sediments are mostly sand and
the median sediment grain size increases from west
to east between Astara and Noor then decreases
again westward from Noor to Gorganrood.
Regarding the bathymetry of the sea, both the
nearshore gradient trend and offshore gradient trend
controls the sediment grain size. Moreover, there is a
direct correlation between median sediment grain
size and beach face slopes on the studied coasts and
the collected data are in the range defined by
published researches such as Sorensen (2006) and
Carter (1998).
Acknowledgements
This research benefited from the support of Dr.
Hamid A. K Lahijani, Mr. Mehrdad Khan-
mohammadi, Mr. Amir Monfared, Mr. Sadegh
Nadimi, Mr Asghar Molaei, Dr. Abdolazim
Ghangherme, Mr. Javad Malek, and Dr. Homayoun
Khoshravan. I must thank all of them.
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