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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.22, 173-177
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
173
Research Article Open Access
Temporal and Spatial Variation of Sand Dunes, the Caspian Sea
Homayoun Khoshravan , Seidmasoumeh Banihashemi, Mahdieh Shapouri
Coastal Management Group, Caspian Sea Research Center, Water Research Institute, Sari, Mazandaran, Iran
Corresponding author email: h_khoshravan@yahoo.com
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol.3, No.22 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0022
Received: 30 Mar., 2013
Accepted: 26 Apr., 2013
Published: 28 Apr., 2013
Copyright
©
2013 Khoshravan, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Khoshravan et al., 2013, Temporal and Spatial Variation of Sand Dunes, the Caspian Sea, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.22 173-177 (doi:
10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0022)
Abstract
The evaluation of temporal and spatial changes of sand dunes in the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea is the main target
in this research. So with periodic satellite images interpretation and field monitoring on beach zone, the physical condition of sand
dunes morphology was examined.
The results show that from 865 km coastal stripe in the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea there is
just 156 kilometers discontinuously sand dunes and the beach zone of the western part of Mazandaran and Gilan and also Golestan
province are the most susceptible regions from erosion point of view.
There is only 45 kilometers pristine and untouched sand dune
along the study area which was located in Miankaleh territory. The results show that the varieties of sand dunes along the southern
coast of the Caspian Sea are different. Tendency of erosion vulnerability of these sand dunes have been increased by anthropogenic
impact and rapid sea level changes, particularly near Amirabad complex zone in south-east coasts of the Caspian Sea.
Keywords
Sand dune; Coast; Caspian Sea; Vulnerability; Erosion
Introduction
Control of construction and development of coastal
areas for a variety of devastating human and
environmental factors such as rising sea level and
storm water, are the most important goals of coastal
management programs. Today, the focus of human
societies in the natural environment of coastal areas,
lakes and wetlands has created a hazardous condition.
Construction for various land developments varied
with the loss of pristine coastal sand dunes and coastal
dike area was under the operating conditions for the
crisis caused by rising sea levels and storm waves to
penetrate dry coastal areas has been provided.
Annually frequent sediments which have vital role to
coastal protection were eroded by erosion processes
associated with human activities and environmental
impacts. These processes were not excluded from the
Caspian Sea coasts. And it is quite visible in areas
prone to have the sand dunes, with the conditions of
instability and destruction such as the areas with
construction and commercial fishing jetties in the port
areas, construction of protective walls to prevent sea
water intrusion into coastal dry land, removal of sand
from the river estuaries and coastline for construction
work, building hydroelectric dams on the rivers leading
to the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea, development
of residential and tourist towns. Therefore, this study
assesses the present condition and the extent of
damage to the sand dunes under the influence of
erosion processes and human activities as the main
issue. Previous studies confirmed the presence of
areas of maximum erosion regime in the southern
coasts of the Caspian Sea (Khoshravan, 2007). So
based on the results of these studies, the coastal area
has been classified into three types of erosion,
sediment and intermediate (Khoshravan, 2007). The
study area was classified into five morphological
zones (Khoshravan, 2000). The content of the sediment
regime of rivers leading to the southern coast of the
Caspian Sea, indicates a sedimentary process in the
deltaic areas overlooking the Sefidroud and Gorgan
rivers that under the influence of coastal waves and
currents their distribution along the coastline has
formed the dike cumulative assemblies which are
suitable for the formation of natural protection
structures (Alizadeh, 2007). There are many suitable
places for sand dunes development along the Caspian
Sea, which are located in the East part of Mazandaran
(Miankaleh territory) and central region of Gilan beach
(Khoshravan, 2000). The new documents about sand
dune condition in Miankaleh sand barrier show that
coastal dunes are classified as active and dormant ones