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Healy, T. and de Lange, W., 2014. Reliability of geomorphic indicators of littoral drift: Examples from the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. The net direction of littoral drift can be evaluated by multiple lines of evidence, including a range of geomorphic indicators and trends in sediment characteristics. In this article, the processes that influence the longshore transport of sediment are reviewed and assessed by the types of geomorphic indicators and sediment trends that can be expected. Various proxies for measured littoral drift are used to evaluate the littoral drift in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Previous studies, utilising geomorphic indicators and, to a lesser extent, sediment characteristics and simple models of longshore sediment transport, developed a conceptual model of two main littoral drift systems starting at the western and eastern margins of the Bay of Plenty and converging in the vicinity of Ohiwa Harbour, an estuary enclosed by two opposing spits within the bay. Comparison of ...

In recent years, mangrove expansion has become a coastal management issue in the North Island of New Zealand. Little is known about the spatial evolution and forest structure of temperate mangrove forests in New Zealand or about the associated rates of sedimentation. The extent of mangrove colonization in both a large (Waikareao Estuary) and small (Welcome Bay) embayment within Tauranga Harbour were documented. Forest structure and growth rates were described using tree height, stem density, pneumatophore density, and seedling establishment. Surface elevation changes within mangrove habitat were determined from erosion pin measurements and, on bare intertidal flats, using buried baseplates. Sediment texture and availability was also assessed using sediment traps. Results show that in 1943, mangrove vegetation covered

Cross‐correlations between along‐shelf wind stress and both along‐ and cross‐shelf currents within the central Bay of Plenty, New Zealand show the circulation during spring‐summer to be highly responsive to wind events. Current meter records indicate that upwelling‐favourable wind stresses generate upwelling dynamics in both mean and fluctuating senses. Both thermistor moorings and satellite inferred temperature data record the outcropping of this cool water following upwelling‐favourable wind stresses. The upwelling circulation provides an efficient mechanism for the periodic delivery of cool (c. 80 μg litre‐1) water to the coastal zone during spring. Historical wind forcing data suggest that the wind‐forced dynamics described were responsible for a major toxic algal bloom within the Bay of Plenty during 1992–93.

The theoretical rates of deposition for fine sediments over the last 10 ka have been deduced and plotted for the Kieler Bucht. Assumptions are that the bay has remained as a closed sedimentary system, and that the fine sediments deposit in water deeper than 10 m. A sharp peak of sedimentation activity is indicated between 7.5 and 8.5 ka B.P. with low rates prior to 9.5 ka and since 6 ka. Comparison of rates obtained from dated cores extracted from different parts of the Kieler Bucht with the theoretical curve shows general conformity, and confirms that peak sedimentation rates exceeding 3 mm/a, as averaged over 100–200 years, occurred between 8 and 9 ka, with the suggestion of a minor activity peak between 3 and 4 ka. The overall consistency supports the view that the bay has acted essentially as a closed sedimentary basin during the Holocene marine transgression and subsequently.

From analysis of the densest network of echogrammes yet available for the Kieler Bucht, Western Baltic, the submarine erosional terraces have been mapped. In general these correlate well with the features mapped and described by Kolp (1976) for the adjacent Mecklenburger Bucht. The lower terraces are at - 30 m and may reach 2100 m in broadness. Compared to present day conditions, the rates of cliff retreat at the time of formation were evidently much accelerated, due possibly to harsher climatic conditions including a greater intensity of winter lake ice, frosts, wind and rain. Other terraces at - 27, - 24, - 19, and - 14 m were identified, and these are related to syngressions in the various eustatic curves applicable to the Western baltic. A hypsometric curve for the submarine terrain of the Kieler Bucht, when compared to the relative sea level curve shows that 65% of the bay was transgressed in only 700 years. Maximum sedimentation rates in the Kieler Bucht should have occurred at this time, and independent data from dated cores from Vejsnas Rinne support this prediction.

Within New Zealand, growth in the aquaculture industry has led to the diversification of aquaculture sites from more sheltered bays and harbours toward open coast locations. Coastal zone managers, along with the aquaculture industry, aim to ensure the long-term sustainability of any ‘new’ sites selected. Through targeted data collection programmes and the subsequent implementation of Geographic Information System (GIS) based models, the most suitable and sustainable locations for Aquaculture Management Areas (AMAs) can be identified. This approach is applied within the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, with specific reference to suspended mussel (Perna canaliculus) aquaculture. Within the region, areas where maximum sustainability may be achieved make up 18% of the total area considered, with conflicting uses and other constraints accounting for 46%. Whilst further site and development specific studies are required to determine explicit carrying capacities, the effort required has been considerably reduced by eliminating unsuitable locations and identifying those where sustainability can be maximised. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Definitions of the geomorphic term “enclosed sea” are imprecise. Some available definitions are presented and reviewed. Based upon a quantitative morphometric ratio of {major axis length within the enclosed sea} to {entrance width}, fully “enclosed” seas are defined as having a ratio exceeding 4. If there is more than one entrance, the sea is defined as “semi-enclosed”. Those seas with major axis length to the entrance width ratios less than 4 are defined as “enclosed bays”, except if they have multiple entrances, in which case the term “semi-enclosed bay” is appropriate. Data from the world's coastal enclosed seas, defined according to the new morphometric criterion, are presented. We identify 22 enclosed seas, 6 semi-enclosed seas, 9 enclosed bays and 5 semi-enclosed bays.

To relate the textural characteristics of the bottom sediments of a tidal inlet to hydrodynamics, 45 sediment samples from the Tauranga Entrance to Tauranga Harbour were analysed for textural parameters, and tidal currents and waves were monitored. Tidal currents dominate sediment transport processes near the Tauranga Entrance although swell waves are significant on the ebb tidal delta, and wind waves may influence intertidal sediments within the harbour. The bulk of the sediment is probably derived from marine sand from the Bay of Plenty continental shelf, but tidal currents and waves have changed its textural character. In areas of swift tidal currents, particularly in the inlet channel itself, sediment is coarser, more poorly sorted, and more coarsely skewed than that in areas of slower currents.

Given a marine basin of near homogeneous lithology, a known sea level curve, and known submarine abrasion rates, a model is developed to estimate the volume of material eroded by marine action. Assumptions of the model are that erosion is effected solely by submarine abrasion, which is assumed known and uniform through time, and that the volume eroded is small relative to the total volume of the basin. The basis of the model is that the volume eroded V, between time limits t1 andt2,is essentially a function of the perimeter length l of the basin, which in turn is time-dependent on the sea level curve, so that $$V = k\int_{t1}^{t2} {l(t)dt} $$ where k is an abrasion rate constant. The model was tested on Kiel Bay, Western Baltic, a shallow semienclosed, essentially nontidal sea, for which considerable data is available. Critical for numerical integration of the model is the k value, representing the volume eroded from the shore normal profile per unit length of shoreline per year. A number of possible k values were utilized, the most likely realizing a total volume eroded over the past 9000 y, since the sea first entered Kiel Bay, of 2.60×109m3. From this model, long-term average vertical submarine abrasion rates for Kiel Bay can be deduced as being between 0.001 and 0.0004 m/y.

Side-scan sonographs of the shallow (2–22 m) sea floor off Gisborne Harbour, northern Poverty Bay, New Zealand, include areas of scattered to locally prominent, subcircular, flat-floored depressions, resembling pockmarks, typically 5–20 m across and 0.3–0.5 m deep, in muddy very fine sands. Because of their geologic setting, it is speculated that the structures are exhalative pits for ascending streamers of mud, water, and/or natural gas from underlying diapiric intrusions of predominantly Paleogene shale, and that they may be submarine equivalents of the subaerial quiescent mud volcanoes occurring in the Gisborne district. Because of their possible significance in hydrocarbon prospecting, tsunami generation, and siting of subsea cables, pipelines, and offshore structures, they require further research.

An extensive search of newspaper reports, archival material, and the literature has revealed that many more tsunamis have affected the New Zealand coast than hitherto realised. 32 tsunami events are listed, including their probability of occurrence, the maximum runup height, as well as the epicentre and Richter magnitude for those events associated with earthquakes. Most coastal regions of New Zealand are reported as experiencing tsunamis. Generally these events have been associated with earthquakes, although the tsunami source mechanisms have also been attributed to large rotational slumps, submarine slumping along the Chatham Rise, and submarine mud volcanism associated with diapiric intrusions on the continental shelf off Poverty Bay. Tsunami waves and seiching accompanying the Krakatoa eruption of 1883 appear to have been induced by pressure coupling between the atmosphere and oceans. Most tsunamis have affected the east coast. This largely reflects both exposure to pan-Pacific origins and th...

Ohiwa Harbour is a 24 km2 estuarine lagoon impounded by the 6 km long Ohope spit in the west and the 0.7 km long Ohiwa spit in the east. These barrier sand spits are presently separated by a c. 340 m‐wide inlet channel where the maximum harbour depth of 14 m occurs. Seventy percent of the harbour consists of tidal flats supporting a rich shelly benthos and diversified by stands of mangrove and backed locally by salt marsh. Lower harbour sediments in barrier beach, dune, and entrance shoal and channel environments are well sorted, negatively‐skewed, medium to fine sands. In contrast, upper harbour sediments are poorly to very poorly sorted, positively‐skewed, medium to very fine (silty) sands, the coarser of these deposits occurring in channel and restricted harbour beach environments, and the finer in inter‐tidal flat, creek, and channel bank areas. The terrigenous mineralogy is consistent with a dominantly acid volcanic provenance, directly from the tephra mantle of the catchment and, most impor...