Differential impact of long-shore currents on coastal geomorphology development in the context of rapid sea level changes: The case of the Old Sefidrud (Caspian Sea)

Abstract

In the face of global rise in sea level, understanding the response of the shoreline to sea level rise is an important key for coastal management. The rapid sea level fluctuations taking place in the Caspian Sea provide a live model for studying shoreline response to sea level rise. Coastal lagoon deposits provide an ideal archive to study sea level fluctuation. In this study, two lagoons on both sides of the Old Sefidrud River (south coast of the Caspian Sea) have been subjected to study using sedimentology, palynology and macro-remains analyses: the Amirkola and the Klaus Lagoons. The results demonstrate how these coastal lagoons, related to one single river within the same delta, during the last decades respond differently to sea level fluctuations and show the crucial role played by long-shore current.