Coastline Evolution as a Result of Three Decades of Dynamic Coastal Preservation

The coastline is pro-actively maintained in the Netherlands to prevent negative effects of erosion. Since the 1990’s significant nourishment efforts have been carried out for this purpose. Here, the beach topography of a relatively undisturbed stretch of coast, with the exception of nourishment efforts, was investigated to understand the effect of three decades of coastal preservation. The evolution of the beach volume, coastline position, and coastline orientation were compared before and after the implementation of the coastal preservation policy. Structural erosion of the coastline was put to a halt thanks to regular nourishments. On average, the coastline built out, which was proven necessary to maintain the most erosive parts of the coast. Especially adjacent to breakwaters/groynes and nourishments hotspots an expansion of the coastline can be observed. It can thus be concluded that coastline maintenance is achieved with regular nourishments and that sediment accumulates in the beach zone at certain locations along-shore.