Linking fracturing and rock mechanic properties to the erosion of a beachrock shore platform.

The intertidal zone and raised shore (supratidal) platform at Mission Rocks, northern KwaZulu-Natal coast, South Africa, consists of fracture-bounded Holocene beachrock units, and megagravel (boulder) deposits. This area is microtidal and wave-dominated, with swells approaching from the southeast. The area is also influenced by storm wave events. The seaward edge of the intertidal platform is undercut, leading to the formation of overhangs, which are modelled here as cantilevered beams. This analysis shows that beam volume/weight does not control failure because relatively short, thick beams (l:h < 2) are less susceptible to failure, and the beam length-to-thickness ratio is important. This accords with tensile strength testing which demonstrates that the bedding planes are weak and that saturated beachrock (i.e., at the platform edge) is ~25% weaker than unsaturated rock. Fracture, block and boulder analyses of seven coastal sections, and their geomorphological features (elevation, slope, terrain ruggedness), reveal three key relationships: (1) The number of fracture intersections and fracture density are higher in the raised shore platforms than in the intertidal, which is relatively unfractured, lower in elevation and less rugged than the raised shore platform. These parameters correlate positively with the number of fracture-bounded blocks. (2) Fracture-bounded blocks on the raised shore platform (n = 145) have a mean shape ratio of 2.25 and are 10–20 m2 in size, while the disarticulated boulders (n = 172) have a mean shape ratio of 1.3–1.5 and are 2–3 m2 in size. It is considered that the reduction in shape and size of the boulders is the result of fracture-bounded blocks being quarried and transported from the raised shore platform, and not from the intertidal platform, during high-energy storm events. (3) Coast-perpendicular fractures in the intertidal platform deepen and widen towards the sea, forming gullies in which wave run-up and retreat was observed. A relatively good negative correlation (r2 = 0.7) was found between the number of these gullies and values of maximum terrain ruggedness which suggests that platform lowering occurs when an appropriate fracture network (relatively dense and suitably orientated) receives unimpeded swells and waves. Overall, we find that the evolution of the beachrock platform in terms of ruggedness and downwearing is influenced, at least in part, by the fracture networks present, most notably in terms of their orientation, density, persistence and intersection geometry. • Intertidal platform ruggedness decreases with increasing gully formation. • Disarticulated boulders most likely derive from quarrying of raised shore platform. • Platform slope correlates weakly with fracture length and density. • Collapse of cantilevered beachrock beams controlled by fracture geometry, not mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]