Pebble Beach Research Articles

Petrographic and Textural Characterization of Beach Sands Contaminated by Asbestos Cement Materials (Cape Peloro, Messina, Italy): Hazardous Human-Environmental Relationships

In the past fifteen years, the contamination of the Italian marine coastal environments by asbestos cement materials (ACMs) represents a known crux mostly reported or denounced by mass media and environmental associations. A recent research reporting compositional and textural data related to ACMs found in the beach deposits of a protected natural reserve (Cape Peloro, Messina, Italy) induced the author to perform new petrographic and textural analyses on the Cape Peloro beach sands, pebbles, cobbles (BSPC), and technofossils (bricks, tails, slab, concrete), associated with the previously studied ACMs, in order to compare the data with those of the ACMs previously reported in the literature. The petrographic investigations allowed the author to determine that beach sands and weakly gravelly sands were characterized by a quartzo–lithic signature, being mainly composed of metamorphic grains of quartz (50–60%) and metamorphic lithics (40–50%, mainly composed of polymineral quartz + microcline, quartz + plagioclase, quartz + biotite, quartz + muscovite grains, and monomineral opaque minerals, plagioclase, k-feldspar, and almandine garnet grains), whereas the pebbles and cobbles were made of acid intrusive (granitoids) and metamorphic rocks (gneiss, augen gneiss prevailing). Pebbles and cobbles made up of porphyroids could derive from the cannibalization of the underlying lower to middle Pleistocene siliciclastic deposits of the Messina Formation. Differently, the gneiss, augen gneiss, and granitoids forming the beach pebbles and cobbles, being present both in the crystalline rocks of the Aspromonte Unit and in the clasts of the SGMF, could originate from both of them. Textural investigations allowed the author to characterize grain size, shape parameters, and roundness in the beach deposits. These were mostly composed of sands and weakly gravelly sands with medium grains. Parameters, such as elongation and flatness, showed higher values in the BSPC than in the technofossils. The shapes of the BSPC were mostly from oblate to equant, whereas the shapes of the technofossils were mostly from bladed to oblate. The main differences depended on the original shape of the technofossils, being mostly platy, and their softer composition. The roundness was from angular to sub-rounded. In the Ionian coast of the Cape Peloro peninsula, the source areas for the well-rounded ACM found on the beach and in the beach deposits could have at least four different origins: (i) Possible landfills widespread since the 1970s in the intensively urbanized coastal areas. (ii) Direct abandonment in the coastal area. (iii) Direct abandonment in the streams. (iv) Activities to counteract the erosion/lack of sediment using non-conforming materials. Considering the diffused damage caused by the coastal erosion affecting most of the Italian coast and the obvious increasing dispersion of the asbestos fibers from the ACMs over time, effectual counter actions to prevent further contamination and guidelines for clean-up efforts are necessary.

Water and the Afterlife – Water-related Resources in the Burial Construction of the Nordic Bronze Age

The waterscape, including the sea, rivers, and lakes, was highly important to communities living during the Nordic Early Bronze Age (1800/1700–1100 bc). Waterways acted as highways that facilitated journeys, trade, and warfare, enabling maritime warriors and others to distinguish themselves. This is reflected in the maritime location of rock art and important Early Bronze Age burials, which have been used to reconstruct the Nordic Bronze Age cosmology. This centres on the journey of the sun across the sky during the day, and the underworld during night. This article analyses the use of water-related resources, such as seaweed, petrified organics, beach pebbles, and molluscs, in the construction of burials, which has received little attention despite renewed interest in the maritime seascape. The data demonstrate that local communities used different resources, indicating that a common belief system was realised in local differences. These marine materials were collected from the beach, which can be conceptualised as the liminal zone between the land of the living and the sea of the dead. It is suggested that these materials, in line with other funerary practices, helped to guide the recently deceased into the afterlife in the sea.

Rapid Changes in Permeability: Numerical Investigation into Storm-Driven Pebble Beach Morphodynamics with XBeach-G

This study delves into the morphodynamic changes of pebble beaches in response to storm events, employing a combination of observational and numerical approaches. This research focuses on three extreme events, meticulously examining morhological changes in intertidal topography on the beach of Etretat (Normandy, France). A robust dataset of daily beach topography, derived from video monitoring systems, validates a set of numerical simulations of cross-shore dynamics performed by the process-based model XBeach-G. Our study evaluates the model’s efficacy in estimating beach profile evolution under high-energy conditions and explores its sensitivity to the physical properties of pebbles, including permeability. The results underscore the significance of considering spatial and temporal variations in permeability during storms to enhance the numerical model’s accuracy in predicting pebble beach dynamics. Furthermore, this study advocates for the incorporation of grain size mapping techniques to refine numerical model implementations.

Tourism impact on coastal erosion: a case of Alanya

Sandy coasts are constantly exposed to rapid coastal change. Projected climate change caused by Changes in sea level rise, wave circumstances, and storm occurrences will increase erosion rates, exposing these areas to increasingly hazardous conditions. For coastal management purposes, it is important to monitor and measure these changes. Erosion of sandy and pebbly beaches and their ecosystems. The loss of sand and gravel is not only due to the rise in sea level and the force of waves resulting from storms, which will intensify due to climate change. There is a new important factor of human intervention and impact on the beaches that must be mentioned and verified as to how the effect is in the long term with the increase in tourism in the coastal areas, especially in areas of a tourist nature. The amount of sediment that each individual transports from the coastal beaches in the Alanya region.
 In the experiment, we Collected samples of sand and gravel from different locations on the coast to be surveyed. Classifying the collected samples by means of sieve analysis. Executing the project by going to the sites of sand samples that were analyzed in different periods by collecting samples (collecting sand attached to the bodies of people of different sizes in basins Testing). The thesis also answers Identify the eroded beach by relating the average number of locals and foreigners who come to the project area for a year and use the coast with the data collected during the project.

Loss Aversion in Women’s Professional Golf: Results from the 2023 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, California

There have been three significant loss-aversion studies involving professional golfers; all focused exclusively on men. Each study found significant loss aversion in these real-world settings, in response to suggestions that loss aversion would disappear if the stakes were high enough and decision makers had a chance to learn from previous mistakes. Together, these three studies cast significant doubts on the validity of those caveats. But they also beg the question: How would results for professional women golfers compare? The current study focuses on loss aversion in women’s professional golf in what was the highest-staked competition in Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) history: the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, California. Results from that within-subject study, reported herein, show similar levels of loss aversion, and at a highly significant level. Implications are discussed.

Metabetaeus lapillicola, a new species of alpheid shrimp (Decapoda: Caridea) from Japan, inhabiting unusual pebble beaches.

The alpheid shrimp genus Metabetaeus Borradaile, 1899 was previously known from two species associated with anchialine pools and caves, M. minutus (Whitelegge, 1897) and M. lohena Banner & Banner, 1960, and one species inhabiting in coral reef, M. mcphersonae Anker, 2010. In this study, a new species of the genus is described based on fourteen specimens collected from Shizuoka and Mie Prefectures, Honshu, central Japan. Metabetaeus lapillicola n. sp. inhabits interstitial spaces among small pebbles deposited in lower intertidal to upper subtidal zone, representing rather unusual habitat not only for Metabetaeus, but even for carideans. It is distinguished from three congeneric species by the presence of a pterygostomial spine on the carapace, greatly unequal chelipeds with the major one being substantially elongate, and the lack of a distinct distolateral spine on the uropodal endopod. Phylogenetic analyses using the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and COI genes support the recognition of the new species. The generic diagnosis of Metabetaeus is emended to accommodate the new species.

The Math of Beach Pebble Formation

The Math of Beach Pebble Formation

Comparisons of macrofaunal communities occupying shores across the full particle-size spectrum reveals pebble beaches to be a distinct coastal habitat type

Intertidal research has focused primarily on very fine to coarse sandy beaches (grain size <1 mm) and on rocky shores, while shores with grain sizes of 1-256+ mm have rarely been studied. Within South Africa, few published accounts describe the biota of very coarse sand (1-<2 mm), granule (2-<4 mm), pebble (4-<64 mm) or cobble (64-<256 mm) shores, and only one reports on boulder (256+ mm) shores. The objective here was to determine how many distinct habitat types occur across the full spectrum of particle sizes within this region, and what taxa characterise the biota of each habitat type. Biota from 14 shores of grain sizes 1-256 mm within the Western Cape Province (southeastern Atlantic Ocean) were sampled and compared with similar published data from 32 other regional sites with either finer or coarser grain size. Three main groupings emerged from a similarity analysis: sandy shores (of particle size <1 mm); pebble (4-<64 mm) shores; and boulder (256+ mm) plus rocky shores, with cobbles serving as a transition between those two. Sandy shores were characterised by various burrowing taxa, and boulder (>256 mm) and rocky shores mostly by grazing gastropods. Shores of 4-<64 mm particle grain size were colonised by a distinctive but previously unrecognised macrofaunal community characterised by an impoverished fauna dominated by small, mobile, mostly air-breathing arthropod taxa.

Contingent Valuation Study for Selected Beach Areas in San Francisco, Surigao Del Norte for its Environmental Conservation

Beaches are one of the tourist attractions in many countries; it views as an ecosystem that would create benefits due to its scenic beauty. Diaz Beach and Banbanon Pebble Beach are commonly known tourist spots in the municipality of Anao-aon, hence, these two are the chosen study area that was conducted as it meets the standards of our research that aimed to evaluate the maintenance and conservational status. To some extent, implementation of Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept a branch of the Contingent Valuation Method serve as requisite that individuals need to indicate their preferences for environmental assets, or to alternate in a resourceful status. Beachgoers are targeted to determine their amount of WTP and WTA, such that their perceptions are a key to assessing the factors for beach usage. The researchers adopted a survey questionnaire that determined their willingness to pay (WTP) for the beach environmental maintenance, conservation, and willingness to accept (WTA) in reducing plastic wastes particularly cellophane and bottles, and the pre-determined factors affecting their preference in using the beach. The proposed entrance fee (20php) that served as biddings of promoting sustainable usage and development was rejected. On the other hand, in Willingness to Accept, the highest preferred amount for the price of cellophane is Php 4.00 while for the plastic bottle is Php 6.00. Thus, the outcome of WTA was inevitable to create potential environmental services and maintenance. The compensation of cellophane and plastic bottle is a good factor in implementing rules and regulations at its essential aspect of promoting sustainable usage and development for the present and future generations.

Contingent Valuation Study for Selected Beach Areas in San Francisco, Surigao Del Norte for its Environmental Conservation

Beaches are one of the tourist attractions in many countries; it views as an ecosystem that would create benefits due to its scenic beauty. Diaz Beach and Banbanon Pebble Beach are commonly known tourist spots in the municipality of Anao-aon, hence, these two are the chosen study area that was conducted as it meets the standards of our research that aimed to evaluate the maintenance and conservational status. To some extent, implementation of Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept a branch of the Contingent Valuation Method serve as requisite that individuals need to indicate their preferences for environmental assets, or to alternate in a resourceful status. Beachgoers are targeted to determine their amount of WTP and WTA, such that their perceptions are a key to assessing the factors for beach usage. The researchers adopted a survey questionnaire that determined their willingness to pay (WTP) for the beach environmental maintenance, conservation, and willingness to accept (WTA) in reducing plastic wastes particularly cellophane and bottles, and the pre-determined factors affecting their preference in using the beach. The proposed entrance fee (20php) that served as biddings of promoting sustainable usage and development was rejected. On the other hand, in Willingness to Accept, the highest preferred amount for the price of cellophane is Php 4.00 while for the plastic bottle is Php 6.00. Thus, the outcome of WTA was inevitable to create potential environmental services and maintenance. The compensation of cellophane and plastic bottle is a good factor in implementing rules and regulations at its essential aspect of promoting sustainable usage and development for the present and future generations.

BUDIDAYA RUMPUT LAUT METODE LONG LINE DI PERAIRAN BANLI DESA OP KECAMATAN NUNKOLO, KABUPATEN TIMOR TENGAH SELATAN, PROPINSI NUSA TENGGARA TIMUR

Seaweed cultivation in the marine waters of Banli, OP Village, Nunkolo District, South Central Timor Regency, has never been carried out by residents of the area. This cultivation activity is to provide new jobs for the Banli Jaya fishing group in particular and it is hoped that later this group will share with other residents. This activity is also a solution for residents whose livelihoods only choose beach pebbles to sell, which in the long term will damage coastal construction which can later lead to coastal degradation and erosion.This activity is intended to train the community so that they know how to cultivate seaweed. This will be a new source of livelihood for the Banli Jaya group in particular and the population in general.Although Banli Waters is located in the South Coast region which is known for strong currents, the timing of cultivation is an important point that must be considered. The timing of June to December is the right time because in this season the southern waters are relatively calm. The Community Service Activities (PKM) for Red Algae Cultivation Kappaphycus alvarezii were carried out well, where the red algae cultivated grew well.

Categorization of plastic debris on sixty-six beaches of the Laurentian Great Lakes, North America

The Laurentian Great Lakes system is a major global sink for plastic debris. An area of 10 m2 on each of sixty-six Great Lakes beaches was sampled for large micro-, meso- and macroplastic items. A total of 21 592 plastic items were collected and categorized. Pre-production plastic pellets were the most abundant debris type, accounting for 58.3% of the total count. The remaining 42.7% of the debris items are the focus of this study. Detailed, multi-step characterization was performed with the plastics being categorized using physical identification, known usage, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Values of 805.5 items m−2 at Baxter Beach in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, and 688.1 items m−2 at Bronte Beach in Oakville, Ontario, Canada are the highest of all sampling locations. Sampling sites on only three beaches contained no plastic debris: Bay City in Michigan, U.S.A., Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and Pebble Beach in Marathon, Ontario, Canada. The plastic items sampled were mainly large microplastics (68.4% of total) with a total of 1477.5 items m−2, followed by mesoplastics (27.3% of total) with 598.8 items m−2, and macroplastics (4.3% of total) with 91.9 items m−2. By mass, the microplastic fraction accounted for 25.61 g m2 (14.1%), the mesoplastic for 47.06 g m2 (25.9%), and macroplastic for 109.3 g m2 (60.1%). A total of 3004 items were determined as specific polymers based on physical properties, known polymer usage, Resin Identification Code, and FTIR. A total of 1227 plastic items (40.8% of total) were identified as expanded polystyrene. The 49 most common items, excluding pellets, were scored using a matrix scoring technique to determine their potential general origin. It was determined that these items mostly originated from shoreline and urban sources, whereas pellets originated from the plastics industry.

Experimental Development of Transport Percussion Marks on Obsidian Clasts, Pilauco Site, Chilean Northwestern Patagonia

In the Pilauco site (40°34′11″ S, 73°06′17″ W; 13,570 ± 70–12,540 ± 90 14C year BP), a previous geochemical trace analysis suggested that the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex is the most likely source for obsidian and dacitic glass artifacts at Pilauco. It was hypothesized that the glassy rocks were probably collected from a pebble beach deposit, as deduced by the presence of crescentic percussion marks on the artefact cortexes. An experimental study was designed using pebble obsidian clasts. Bidirectional transport produced by the waves on a beach was imitated by an oscillating table, using time lapses equivalent to a transport of 0.7 to 20 km. One hundred clasts were randomly selected and marked. The morphological changes were registered, measured and photographed after seven sequential runs. At the end of the experiment at 20 km, the mass loss of rounded and fractured clasts was 5% and 11%, respectively. Crescent, circular, pseudo-circular and irregular percussion marks occurred in both types of clasts. In all cases, the crescent marks developed a pseudo-frosted surface appearance, giving a whiter tone that masks the black color of the obsidian, exactly as observed in the cortex of the artifacts knapped in dacitic glass at the Pilauco site. Thus, it is highly probable that the vitreous material was obtained from a beach sourced by the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex.

The Shoemaker and the Gibson Girl

The Shoemaker and the Gibson Girl

Stability of an Artificial Pebble Beach in Front of Slope Structures during Upsurge

Stability of an Artificial Pebble Beach in Front of Slope Structures during Upsurge

New insights into the functioning and structure of the PE and PP plastispheres from the Mediterranean Sea

Plastic debris are accumulating in the marine environment and aggregate microorganisms that form a new ecosystem called the plastisphere. Better understanding the plastisphere is crucial as it has self-sufficient organization and carries pathogens or organisms that may be involved in the pollutant adsorption and/or plastic degradation. To date, the plastisphere is mainly described at the taxonomic level and the functioning of its microbial communities still remains poorly documented. In this work, metagenomic and metaproteomic analyzes were performed on the plastisphere of polypropylene and polyethylene plastic debris sampled on a pebble beach from the Mediterranean Sea. Our results confirmed that the plastisphere was organized as self-sufficient ecosystems containing highly active primary producers, heterotrophs and predators such as nematode. Interestingly, the chemical composition of the polymer did not impact the structure of the microbial communities but rather influenced the functions expressed. Despite the fact that the presence of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria was observed in the metagenomes, polymer degradation metabolisms were not detected at the protein level. Finally, hydrocarbon degrader (i.e., Alcanivorax) and pathogenic bacteria (i.e., Vibrionaceae) were observed in the plastispheres but were not very active as no proteins involved in polymer degradation or pathogeny were detected. This work brings new insights into the functioning of the microbial plastisphere developed on plastic marine debris.

Field observations in pebble beach habitats link plastiglomerate to pyroplastic via pebble clasts

Plastiglomerate and pyroplastic are two novel plastic debris forms that were originally discovered on sandy beaches in Hawaii and the UK, respectively. While plastiglomerate consists of plastic melted together with rocks or pebbles, pyroplastic is melted plastic. Although both plastic debris forms were related to campfires, it is unclear whether they are related to each other. Also, plastiglomerate and pyroplastic records from other shore types are missing. Therefore, we surveyed pebble beach habitats in Madeira Island (Atlantic Ocean) for plastiglomerate and pyroplastic. We detected one plastiglomerate (PG1, including a pebble) and four pyroplastics (PP1–4). While PP2–4 consisted of polypropylene, PG1 and PP1 consisted of polyethylene and polypropylene. Furthermore, PG1 and PP1 included previously undescribed pebble shaped clasts that unequivocally linked plastiglomerate to pyroplastic. Thereby, our findings provide the first record of plastiglomerate and pyroplastic from pebble beach habitats worldwide and establish the link between these two novel plastic debris forms.

Cycle of reproduction, oocyte atresia, and maturation size of the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum on a pebble beach in Mutsu Bay, Northern Japan

ABSTRACT This study investigated the seasonal cycle of reproduction and oocyte atresia (i.e. cell death and degeneration), and size at maturity of the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum (Mollusca: Bivalvia) in Mutsu Bay, Northern Japan. Monthly changes in condition factor and reproductive stage of gonads indicated that females and males spawned during July–September and June–October in 2014, respectively. The volume fraction of atretic oocytes reached a small peak at 9.3% in August (i.e. cell death of oocytes during their development in the spawning period) and the largest peak in October at 25.0% (i.e. residual oocytes in the recovery period). The atretic oocytes under resorption by macrophage-like cells comprised 2.5–14.3% and 100% of total atretic oocytes in the spawning and recovery/early gametogenesis periods, respectively. The shell length at 50% maturity was estimated to be 21.1 mm in females and 18.5 mm in males.

A fully automated method for monitoring the intertidal topography using Video Monitoring Systems

Coastal systems are extremely dynamic environments exposed to many hazards, making accurate and regular monitoring a major challenge, particularly in the context of global change and sea level rise. In this frame of reference, high-frequency, high-resolution coastal Video Monitoring Systems (VMS) have been installed on three megatidal (tidal amplitude > 9 m) sites of Normandy (France) including a sandy beach at Villers-sur-Mer, a pebble beach at Etretat and a composite beach at Hautot-sur-Mer. This article proposes the use of Mask R–CNN to process images acquired at these sites and perform the automatic segmentation of the visible bodies of water in order to extract the waterline. The extracted waterlines are associated with a measured water level, which makes it possible to reconstruct the topography of the beaches at the scale of the tidal cycle. After training the neural network on manually labeled data, the segmentation by Mask R–CNN is very efficient by achieving a satisfactory segmentation on 69.87% of the images of Villers-sur-Mer, on 67.11% at Hautot-sur-Mer, and on 97.33% at Etretat. Once the waterlines have been extracted and georeferenced, the reproduction of the beaches’ morphology is satisfactory (averaged vertical RMSE = 28 cm). These results confirm that segmentation by Mask R–CNN is a particularly powerful tool that allows efficient and low-cost monitoring of the evolution of beach morphology, particularly in response to marine conditions. Its capabilities to detect and segment bodies of water while not being affected by the various sources of noise make it a notably effective tool for coastal science applications.

Abundance and Distribution of Cigarette Butts on Coastal Environments: Examples from Southern Spain

Litter on beaches is one of the most difficult problems in coastal management and every year, much efforts and public money are invested to try to alleviate and solve the problem. Cigarette butts (CB) are among the most widespread abandoned personal items in the world. In Spain, they are found on all types of beaches, where they are discarded by beach users; however, rivers and streams can also deposit CB on shores. This paper analyses the abundance of CB on different beaches in Southern Spain in order to address and better understand this relevant environmental problem and propose sound solutions to decrease or eliminate their presence. The main factors favouring CB accumulation were identified, namely the seasonality and number of beach users, beach typology (remote, rural, village or urban sites), type of beach sediment and methods and frequency of cleaning operations. Mean and median CB abundance values per 100 m of beach length, calculated from all the data used in this study, were 159 and 68 items, respectively. The largest number of CB were observed at urban sites, followed by village, rural and remote beaches. Further, sand beaches registered higher values of CB than cobble or pebble beaches.