The rock coast of continental Europe in the Atlantic

Lluís Gómez-Pujol (1) , Augusto Pérez-Alberti (1) , Ramón Blanco-Chao (2) , Stéphane Costa (3) , Mario Neves (4) , Laura del Río (5)

1 SOCIB Balearic Islands Coastal Ocean Observing and Forecasting System
2 USC - Universidade de Santiago de Compostela [Spain]
3 LETG - Caen - Littoral, Environnement, Télédétection, Géomatique
4 IGOT - Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território
5 UCA - Universidad de Cádiz = University of Cádiz

Rocky coasts occur along more than one-third (37%) of the Atlantic continental European coastline, approximately 3666 km, often forming vertical cliffs and characteristically gently sloping shore platforms. The continental European Atlantic rocky coasts show a great variability of rock types and structural contexts, as well as different wave climates and tidal ranges. Through a review of previously published data on cliff retreat rates and shore platform erosion measured on monthly, seasonal, annual and decadal timescales, this paper highlights the different processes and agents, their magnitude and frequency in shaping rocky coasts. In particular, the links between cliff retreat, shore platform evolution, present dynamics and inheritance (understood as whether platform and other rock coast features were shaped by a higher sea level than the present) comprise one of the major contributions from continental European Atlantic rocky coasts to a global understanding of rock coast coastal geomorphology.

Mots clés: rock coast; continental Europe

Domaines: Géographie

Lluís Gómez-Pujol, Augusto Pérez-Alberti, Ramón Blanco-Chao, Stéphane Costa, Mario Neves, et al.. The rock coast of continental Europe in the Atlantic. D.M. Kennedy, W.J. Stephenson & L.A. Naylor. Rock Coast Geomorphology: A Global Synthesis, 40 (1), The Geological Society, pp.77-88, 2014, 9781862396845. ⟨10.1144/M40.6⟩. ⟨hal-01112726⟩