Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 3.7
Completed coastal protection works at Borth, United Kingdom. Beach renourishment
supplemented a submerged rock berm and two breakwaters. © Royal HaskoningDHV
100 m long, and 50-200 m offshore, by stacking large boulders, usually of lime-
stone or granite. Much of the seaside resort coast between Venice and Rimini in NE
Italy has beaches lined by offshore breakwaters built of limestone blocks brought
from the hinterland (Fig.
3.8
). Waves break against them, and are diffracted through
the intervening spaces before they reach the beach. This diffraction can lead to the
shaping of cusps and shallow zones in the lee of each offshore breakwater, and if
there is a sufficient sand supply these may grow into linking tombolos (Fig.
3.9
).
Fig. 3.8
Chain of boulder
breakwaters protecting the
beach on the coast at Rimini,
Italy. © Geostudies
