Equilibrium beach profile on sandy beach of the Mehdya coast of Morocco

Hind Azidane,Mohamed El Bouhaddioui,Boko Michel,Aïcha Benmohammad,B El Mansouri,M Ben-Daoud,A Moumen,L El Mezouary,G Moroşanu,N Satour,I Elhassnaoui,B El Mahrad,M El Bouhaddioui,N Mejjad,Y Bouslihim

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202131403008

Abstract

The world’s coastlines are shaped by mean sea level, wave conditions and storm surge. Climate change driven variations in these environmental forcing’s will inevitably have a profound effect on the coastal zone. They will result in unprecedented coastal recession, threatening billions of dollars worth of coastal developments and infrastructure. Coastal erosion is observed in some locations along Atlantic alluvial plain (Kenitra coastal (Morocco)) and is an important factor to consider for the coastal zone management. Therefore, for coastal recession estimates are obtained via the simple, deterministic method (Bruun rule) especially, that has been widely used over the last 50 years. It is in widespread contemporary use at a global scale both as a management tool and as a scientific concept. We investigated the potential erosion at the site and the result was very important. The result shows a severe erosion of the 21st century.

Highlights

1.1 Study area descriptionMehdya beach is located in North-West of Morocco near kenitra city
Climate change driven variations in these environmental forcing’s will inevitably have a profound effect on the coastal zone. They will result in unprecedented coastal recession, threatening billions of dollars worth of coastal developments and infrastructure
Coastal erosion is observed in some locations along Atlantic alluvial plain (Kenitra coastal (Morocco)) and is an important factor to consider for the coastal zone management

Summary

Introduction

Mehdya beach is located in North-West of Morocco near kenitra city. It is nearly 1 km long, and it is an embayed beach (See Figure 1) which is bounded by Atlantic continental shelf to the west and the subsiding Gharb plain to the east. The beach is exposed to high-energy wave traveling roughly from the NW sector. These are generated by W-E tracking sub-polar, deep, low-pressure systems over the North Atlantic Ocean and are strongly seasonally modulated. Higher waves are observed during the December-March winter period [8]. It is hypothesized that significant wave heights can reach 7-9 m during severe storms [8]

Methods

Results

Conclusion