Abstract
This paper reviews the initiation, development, and closure of foredune blowouts with focus on biotic-abiotic interactions. There is a rich body of literature describing field measurements and model simulations in and around foredune blowouts. Despite this abundance of data there is no conceptual framework available linking biotic and abiotic observations to pathways of blowout development (e.g., erosional blowout growth or vegetation induced blowout closure). This review identifies morphological and ecological processes facilitating the transition between blowout development stages and sets them in the context of existing conceptual frameworks describing biotic-abiotic systems. By doing so we are able to develop a new conceptual model linking blowout development to the dominance of its governing processes. More specifically we link blowout initiation to the dominance of abiotic (physical) processes, blowout development to the dominance of biotic-abiotic (bio-geomorphological) processes and blowout closure to the dominance of biotic (ecological) processes. Subsequently we identify further steps to test the proposed conceptual model against existing observations and show possibilities to include it in numerical models able to predict blowout development for various abiotic and biotic conditions.
Highlights
The coastal zone, an interface between marine, terrestrial and atmospheric processes is shaped through the dissipation of marine energy and modification of atmospheric processes [1]
The “feedbacks” part (Figure 6b), showing the governing feedbacks loops at a given development stage indicated by triangles filled with integer numbers from 1 to 3, as well as transitional stages indicated by triangles filled with real numbers (1.5 and 2.5)
Previous attempts to model vegetation-dune interactions shaping foredune morphology, which involve the same processes as shaping blowout development, were based on two main model approaches: Cellular automata (CA) and process-based models
Summary
The coastal zone, an interface between marine, terrestrial and atmospheric processes is shaped through the dissipation of marine energy and modification of atmospheric processes [1]. Foredunes are shore parallel dune ridges located at the landward edge of the backshore, formed on beaches through the deposition of aeolian sand within and around vegetation. Their morphologies range from flat terraces to convex ridges. Blowout formation was observed downwind of embayments in high dune-cliffs at an Australian coast [50] or through storm-related erosion due to wave over-topping or overwash, (e.g., [28]). OOnn tthhee oonnee hhaanndd,, iinn thhee abseennccee off a predominanntt wind directionn erosionn and deposition has been observed to occur radially in multiple locations and directions resulting in a more complex initial shape. If a dominant wind direction is present, erosion and deposition occur primarily in response to the predominant wind direction and result in enlargement and extension in that direction and a more elongated shape [46,63]
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