БЕРЕГА СЕВЕРО-ЗАПАДНОЙ ЧАСТИ ЧЕРНОМОРСКОГО ПОБЕРЕЖЬЯ КАВКАЗА В НАЧАЛЕ XXI ВЕКА

Abstract

The Black Sea coast of the Caucasus has the most valuable economic resources, primarily recreational. In addition, coastal geosystems are a key element of the region's natural biodiversity. This paper provides an overview of the current state of abrasion and accumulative shores of the Black Sea between c. Panagia and r. Tuapse. Materials of long-term monitoring observations, satellite imagery, the results of mathematical modeling, literary and archival sources are used. The most important natural processes that determine the development of the coasts are considered and the analysis of their dynamics due to climate changes and increasing anthropogenic load is performed. It is shown that the significant differences between individual sections of the north-western part of the Caucasus Black Sea coast in terms of natural features and the degree of their economic development are determined by a variety of natural and socio-economic factors. Abrasion coasts with high cliffs, where denudation processes are the main source of solid material to the coastal zone, predominate. The general deficit of beach-forming sediments is a characteristic feature, as a result of which there is no single alongshore sediment flux. Small lithodynamic systems bounded by capes are characteristic of the coast under consideration. The movement of sediments has the character of reverse migrations and the beach is formed in the concavities of the coast. The only large accumulative form is the Anapa bay-bar, in the formation of which the alluvium of the Kuban River played an important role. Predominance of erosion processes over accumulative ones is the geomorphological feature of the Caucasus Black Sea coasts, therefore the main problems of environmental management are the protection of the coast from storm waves and shortage of beaches. Creation of complexes of artificial beaches with beach-retaining structures, that simultaneously perform coastal protection and recreational functions, is the most promising solution to these problems in the 21st century. It is noted that the conditions of the considered coastal section are favorable for the use of local coastal protection.