Academic literature on the topic 'Beaches Australia'

Longshore sediment transport rate was measured during energetic sea breeze activity, on intermediate-to-reflective sandy beaches in Southwestern Australia. Estimates of suspended load were obtained using backscatter sensors, current meters and streamer traps. Total load was determined using fluorescent tracer sand and an impoundment study. The measurementsw ere cross-compareda nd usedt o evaluates everalw idely-used longshore transport equations. The streamer trap measurement revealed an exponential distribution of the suspended sediment flux with vertical mixing decreasing in the onshore direction. A continuous time series of the longshore suspended sediment flux across the surf zone was obtained by combining the streamer trap measurements with data collected using surf zone instruments. Comparison of the suspended longshore flux with the total longshore flux derived from the dispersal of the sand tracer indicated that the relative contribution of the suspendedlo ad to the total load was at least 59 %. The movement of sandt racer on four different beaches demonstrated that nearshore sediments were transported obliquely across the surf zone, challenging our conventional view of dividing nearshore sediment transport into cross-shore and longshore components. Furthermore, tracer was found to move from the outer surf zone to the swash zone and vice versa, indicating a cross-shore sediment exchange. The contribution of the swash zone to the total longshore flux was estimated around 30-40 %. Despite large differences in the temporal and spatial scales of the measurement techniques, the littoral drift rates are comparable, suggesting a northward transport rate of 138,000-200,000 m3 year-1. Longshore sediment transport during sea breezes is mainly the result of a high longshore energy flux exerted by wind waves. This is accurately predicted by the equations of Inman and Bagnold (1963) and CERC (1984). The bimodal wave field, characteristic of Southwestern Australia, renders the Kamphuis (1991b) formula unsuitable in this instance.

Accumulations of seagrass, macroalgae and other matter, collectively known as wrack, commonly occur on many sandy beaches, and can play an important role in coastal and nearshore ecosystems. Despite this, wrack removal from sandy beaches is a widespread and increasingly common practice globally, and there is little information regarding the ecological effects of such wrack removal on sandy beaches. The aim of this thesis was to establish the ecological importance of wrack in South Australian (SA) sandy-beach ecosystems. As a first step in furthering our understanding of the effects of wrack removal, I aimed to assess the importance of wrack, independent of the effects of wrack removal. The second over-riding aim of this thesis was to assess the ecological effects of wrack removal on aspects of these systems. To date, the methods used for quantifying the size of wrack deposits on sandy beaches have had limited use due to the time and expertise required to conduct thorough sampling. In Chapter 2, I thus tested the accuracy of a rapid “photopoint” method to visually estimate percentage wrack cover as well as provide an archived record. Comparisons of results obtained from conventional transects with those from photopoints indicated that the photopoint technique can be used to rapidly and accurately estimate % wrack cover on sandy beaches. The photopoint method has a wide range of potential applications and represents a valuable advance in the field. Currently our knowledge of the amounts and types of wrack on SA shores is limited, despite these accumulations being a feature of some SA beaches. Wrack deposits in three biogeographical regions of SA were thus repeatedly surveyed to assess spatial (between and within regions) and temporal (seasonal and inter-annual) variation (Chapter 2). Both wrack cover and the composition of wrack deposits varied spatially and temporally. Wrack deposits contained a diverse array of seagrass, algal, other biotic materials and anthropogenic debris. The South East region of SA had distinctly-different wrack deposits compared to the Metropolitan and Fleurieu Peninsula regions; in general, the cover of wrack was higher, and the diversity and biomass of kelps, red algae and green algae was higher in this region compared to the other two regions. South Australian wrack deposits are thus dynamic and complex. The amount of wrack deposited and retained on a beach may be affected by the beach morphology but, to date, few studies have investigated this link. I assessed wrack cover on beaches with a range of morphodynamic types and found that beaches that were more dissipative in nature had a greater cover of wrack than beaches of the reflective type. I also examined whether wrack deposits affected the sediment characteristics of underlying and nearby sediments. Wrack deposits had little measurable effect on underlying sediments and did not affect particle-size distribution or organic-matter content. There was, however, a trend for beaches in the South East region of SA to have higher organic matter content in their sediments, and these beaches also have higher wrack cover and higher proportions of algae in their deposits. There was also a trend for beaches with higher wrack cover to have less compacted sediments, although this trend was not consistent. Overnight pit-fall trapping surveys of the macrofauna on four SA sandy beaches indicated that local macrofaunal communities were diverse (representing 72 species from 19 Orders in total), abundant, and variable in both time and space. The macrofauna encountered were mostly terrestrial taxa with only 2 truly marine species, and spanned multiple trophic levels, concurring with the results of previous studies. Macrofaunal abundances were higher where associated with wrack than in bare sand, and macrofaunal communities differed between the driftline of wrack and wrack patches away from the driftline. Within the driftline itself, there were few differences between bare sand and wrack-covered areas, suggesting that the entire driftline area is important as a habitat and food resource. Thus, wrack deposits provide an important habitat and food source for macrofauna, and the driftline provides an area of beach with concentrated resources, which in turn concentrates a distinct macrofaunal community. Wrack deposition on sandy beaches varies spatially and is affected by morphological features on the beach-face such as cusps. In Chapter 5, I thus tested a series of hypotheses regarding the differences in wrack deposits, sediments and macrofaunal communities between cusp bays and horns. Bays had greater cover and larger pieces of wrack than horns. Sediment organic-matter content was greater on horns than in bays but mean particle size did not differ consistently between bays and horns. Macrofaunal diversity was higher in bays and this pattern was probably driven by differences in the cover of wrack between bays and horns. Cusp morphology thus influences the distribution of wrack on the beach-face, which in turn influences the distribution of macrofauna. Studies of sandy beaches with cusps should therefore be explicitly designed to sample cusp features and their associated wrack deposits. Chapter 6 assesses the incorporation of wrack into beach and nearshore ecosystems via two pathways: decomposition and incorporation into trophic webs. I assessed the decomposition of algal and seagrass wrack using litterbag experiments and found that after a very rapid initial loss of mass, likely due to cell lysis and leaching, the rate of decomposition of wrack was much slower. Most release of nutrients from organic matter decay thus appears to occur in the first few days after deposition and the processes affecting the rate and nature of wrack decomposition vary among taxa (i.e. algal versus seagrass and among species). Stable isotopes of C and N were used to assess whether beach macrofauna or nearshore macro-invertebrates and fish might rely on wrack as a source of nutrition. I found that seagrasses did not provide a food source for any consumers but algae, particularly brown algae including kelps, appeared to be potential sources of nutrition for beach and nearshore consumers. The incorporation of wrack into beach and nearshore ecosystems may thus occur primarily through consumption of algal wrack by herbivores such as amphipods and dipterans, with predation on them being important pathways for the transfer of nutrients and energy into higher trophic levels. The amount of wrack in the surf zone did not affect the abundance and species richness of fish and invertebrates netted there. The aim of Chapter 7 was to determine the effects of wrack removal on sandy beach macrofaunal communities. In the first study the effects of large-scale commercial harvest of wrack on the macrofaunal communities at Kingston were assessed. The macrofaunal communities present in the ‘Natural’ area of Kingston beach were far more diverse and abundant, and included different species, compared to the ‘Cleared’ area at Kingston. In the second part of Chapter 7, I experimentally removed wrack from the driftline of beaches to assess short-term effects on macrofaunal communities. The experimental treatment did not appear to have any measurable effects on the macrofaunal communities. I also analysed material that was removed from the beach in the raking experiments and found that a large proportion of the material (e.g. 81% of the DW) was sand. I recommend that future studies into the effects of wrack removal use large cleared areas of beach, attempt to use the same wrack removal methods and/or machinery used locally, and assess the macrofaunal communities repeatedly and over longer times following wrack removal activities. In Chapter 8, I attempt to assess the effects of removal of wrack for beach ‘cleaning’ or commercial ‘harvest’ of wrack by comparing key indicators from Chapters 2 to 7. Implications and recommendations for the management of wrack are discussed, including with regard to the techniques used in this thesis and their applicability in managing wrack deposits. I attempt to identify the shortcomings of this research as well as directions for further research. Thus I have demonstrated that wrack in SA provides an important link between offshore habitat and nearshore, beach and terrestrial habitats via the transfer of organic matter and nutrients. Wrack interacts with beach morphology and sediments, provides habitat for macrofauna, remineralises nutrients through its decomposition, and provides the basis of a complex trophic web. I conclude that wrack is a key component in beach ecosystems.

The Australian beach is a significant component of the Australian culture and a way of life. The Australian Beachspace explores existing research about the Australian beach from a cultural and Australian studies perspective. Initially, the beach in Australian studies has been established within a binary opposition. Fiske, Hodge, and Turner (1987) pioneered the concept of the beach as a mythic space, simultaneously beautiful but abstract. In comparison, Meaghan Morris (1998) suggested that the beach was in fact an ordinary or everyday space. The research intervenes in previous discussions, suggesting that the Australian beach needs to be explored in spatial terms as well as cultural ones. The thesis suggests the beach is more than these previously established binaries and uses Soja's theory of Thirdspace (1996) to posit the term beachspace as a way of describing this complex site. The beachspace is a lived space that encompasses both the mythic and ordinary and more. A variety of texts have been explored in this work, both film and literature. The thesis examines textual representations of the Australian beach using Soja's Thirdspace as a frame to reveal the complexities of the Australian beach through five thematic chapters. Some of the texts discussed include works by Tim Winton's Breath (2008) and Land's Edge (1993), Robert Drewe's short story collections The Bodysurfers (1987) and The Rip (2008), and films such as Newcastle (dir. Dan Castle 2008) and Blackrock (dir. Steve Vidler 1997). Ultimately The Australian Beachspace illustrates that the multiple meanings of the beach's representations are complex and yet frequently fail to capture the layered reality of the Australian beach. The Australian beach is best described as a beachspace, a complex space that allows for the mythic and/or/both ordinary at once.

Thesis (B. Sc.(Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, 1996.
National Grid reference (SI-54)6527 - II, (SI-54) 6627 - III 1:10 000 sheet. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-39).

I investigated the past, present and possible futures of Australia’s ocean pools, over a hundred public seawater pools sited on rocky surfcoasts, so that waves wash over their walls. My interdisciplinary analysis informed by actor-­‐network theory explored their contributions to surf, beach, pool and body cultures and recreational coasts. Ocean pools have since the nineteenth century been far more significant in the surf, beach, pool and body cultures of Australia and South Africa, than in those of Britain and the United States. Most of Australia’s ocean pools lie within state of New South Wales, and my work strengthens the case for recognising Australian and NSW ocean pools as having distinct collective identities and affinities with their South African counterparts. Ocean pools are sites of social and environmental learning that challenge efforts to establish human mastery over wild natures and depictions of coastal environments as mere stages for enacting human activities unconstrained by non-­‐human nature. They also challenge the notion that people prefer to swim and bathe at patrolled beaches or in private or public pools far less wild than an ocean pool. They are evidence that supervision by suitably trained and equipped lifeguards or lifesavers is not the only or the most satisfactory way to adequately safeguard bathers and swimmers from the dangers of the sea. Australia’s ocean pools demonstrate that regardless of race, class, gender, age or ability, people can and do make themselves at home in pools shared convivially with wild nature and well-­‐suited for sustained, unsupervised recreation and sport on rocky surfcoast. Ocean pools serve as places of refuge, therapeutic and restorative environments, adventure playgrounds, convivial public spaces, visually appealing cultural landscapes, brands, icons and symbols. Australia’s ocean pools are unified by their sites, their affordances and core actor-­‐ networks linked to their fundamental and enduring identity as ‘wild but safe enough surfside pools’. Rocky shores and coastal waters characterised by surf, sharks and rips are among the most persistent macro-­‐actors in these networks that include bathers, swimmers, tourism and transport networks, news media, local councils and progress associations. Australian ocean pools that gained a further identity as ‘public pools for competition and carnivals’ acquired additional actor-­‐networks strongly linked since the late nineteenth century to amateur swimming clubs and schools, and since the twentieth century to surf lifesaving clubs and winter swimming clubs. Those ocean pools nevertheless, remained predominately recreational facilities. As other types of public pools became more affordable, Australia’s ocean pools remained popular despite gaining new identities as an ‘unusually hazardous type of public pool’ and ‘a type of facility no longer created’. The growing threats to ocean pools and their actor-­‐networks are a further unifying factor. As sport and recreation venues cultivating healthy, convivial relationships with wild nature and possessing unrealised potential as centres for community engagement, learning and research, ocean pools are worth emulating on other rocky shores and in other public places. My work strengthens efforts to sustain and create ocean pools and supports further studies on seawater pools and their actor-­‐networks.