Abstract
Global climate change-induced sea-level rise and storm wave intensification, along with the large population densities and high-intensity human development activities in coastal areas, have caused serious burden and damage to China’s coasts, led to the rapid growth of artificial shorelines development, and formed a “new Great Wall” of reinforced concrete against the laws of nature. After the last ice age, transgression formed the different features of China’s coast. Depending on the types of geological and landform features, coasts are divided into 36 evaluation units, and 10 indicators are selected from natural aspects (including tectonics, geomorphology, sediment, and storms) and aspects of social economy (population, GDP, Gross Domestic Product), and cloud model theory is used to build a coastal erosion vulnerability evaluation index system in China. The results show that high grade (V), high-middle grade (IV), middle grade (III), low-middle grade (II), and low grade (I) coastal erosion vulnerability degrees account for 5.56, 13.89, 41.67, 33.33, and 5.56% of the Chinese coastlines, respectively. The coastal erosion vulnerability of the subsidence zone is significantly higher than that of the uplift zone. Reverse cloud model and analytic hierarchy process calculation show that the main factors that control coastal erosion vulnerability since the transgression after the last ice age are geological structure, topography and lithological features, and in recent years, the decrease in sea sediment loads and increase in reclamation engineering. Mainland China must live with the basic situation of coastal erosion, and this study shows that the index system and method of cloud modeling are suitable for the evaluation of the coastal erosion vulnerability of the Chinese mainland. This study provides a scientific basis for the adaptive management of coastal erosion, coastal disaster assessment and the overall planning of land and sea.
Highlights
The coastal zone is an important area of social and economic development in coastal countries, and it is the most active zone of human activities (McGranahan et al, 2007; Nicholls et al, 2007; Neumann et al, 2015; Jevrejeva et al, 2016; Luijendijk et al, 2018)
The coasts are divided into 36 evaluation units, and 10 important indicators are selected from the geological structure, landform, sea sediment, storm water and other natural attributes such as population, GDP, and the reclamation area of social and economic attributes to construct China’s coastal erosion vulnerability evaluation index system, using an AHP and reverse cloud fuzzy evaluation to characterize coastal erosion vulnerability in mainland China
The main factors controlling coastal erosion vulnerability in mainland China are the geological structure, topography, landform and lithologic characteristics of the coastal zone, as well as the decrease in sediment entering the sea and the increase in reclamation projects in recent years, which are consistent with the basic status of coastal erosion in mainland China
Summary
The coastal zone is an important area of social and economic development in coastal countries, and it is the most active zone of human activities (McGranahan et al, 2007; Nicholls et al, 2007; Neumann et al, 2015; Jevrejeva et al, 2016; Luijendijk et al, 2018). Utilization of the coast (reclamation and the sea aquaculture) takes up too many shoreline resources, and fills the sea with dredged sand, which damages the coastal ecological function and landscape. Under such environmental conditions, the dynamic balance of marine dynamics and sediment transport in the nearshore area has been changed from the original natural conditions. Coastal erosion has a direct impact on coastal areas’ functions, such as land use, living environment, property safety and shipping, and has become an important natural disaster in coastal areas because of its impacts on human social and economic development
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