Coastal retreat in the plain of Marathon (East Attica), Greece: cause and effects

Abstract

The drainage network of Inois River is located in East Attica. The river has formed a deltaic fan on which two main distributories are observed: the older western channel (Sehri Rema) and the younger castern one (Kenourio Rema). The purpose of this paper is to study the recent evolution of Inois River on its deltaic fan, the changes that have taken place and the problems that have been created in property loss in the coastal environment near the mouth of Inois River in the last decades. The construction of Marathon dam in the 1920's resulted in a retreat of the coastline near the mouth of Kenourio Rema and this process is still going on today. The dam prevents the transportation and deposition of sediments to the lower reaches of the drainage system of Inois River and results in the silting up of the artificial lake of Marathon. Following comparative observations of aiгphotos of various years (1938-1988) а retreat of the coastline of the order of I m/year is observed in this area. The loss of land has created great concern to property owners who have appealed to local administrative bodies to no avail. Various crude defensive structures constructed from time to time provide no solution to the problem of coastal erosion. If the anticipated rapid sea-level rise of the near future is confirmed, then the retreat of the coastline in this area is expected to accelerate in the coming decades and create even more serious problems to the coastal environment.