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Rainfall And Beach Erosion Relationships, Stanwell Park, Australia, 1895-1980: Worldwide Implications For Coastal Erosion, Edward A. Bryant

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Beach erosion is often associated with sea-level rise, sediment depletion or variation in wave conditions; however above-normal rainfall can cause beach retreat by increasing water-table elevation on the foreshore. On Stanwell Park beach, New South Wales, Australia annual rainfall accounts for 12.4% of the variance in the long-term, high-ride position measured accurately to ±2.5 m for the whole beach using 135 oblique photographs dated between 1895-1980. Sea-level changes account for an additional 4.6%. A 100 mm increase in annual rainfall or a 1 cm rise in sea-level results in 0.79 or 0.44 m retreat respectively of the average high-tide position …