Archaeology and Archaeobotany at the Land‐Sea Boundary in Pohnpei State, Micronesia

Future sea-level rise is expected to affect coastal aquifers and environments and have significant impacts on coastal communities. Here, we describe the impact of early to late Holocene sea-level variations on the coastal environment and human settlements of the Carmel Coast, Israel. One of these ancient communities, Tel Dor, was settled initially during the Late Pottery Neolithic (ca. 7 ka) on a wetland surface and then abandoned for ca. 1.5 ka before resettlement occurred on the adjacent aeolianite ridge from the Middle Bronze Age to the Crusader period (4.3–0.9 cal Ka BP). For the first time, high resolution chrono-bio-chemo-stratigraphy of sediment cores collected landward of the current shoreline at Dor are presented capturing a record of poorly sorted sand mixed with marine shells, well sorted aeolian sand and silty clay deposits. The record represents a series of brackish-freshwater wetlands formed in the coastal area of Dor between ca. 15 to 7 ka in response to relative sea-level rise and resulting rise of the coastal aquifers. After 7 ka, due to rising sea level and a transgressing shoreline, sand largely derived from the Nile Delta, reached the coast including the coastal wetland. Landward from the current shoreline, the period between ca. 7 to 4 ka is represented by alternating sand-silt facies consisting of reworked marine shells and brackish-fresh water biota. These lithological cycles reflect fluctuations between coastal and wetland environments governed by the response of the coastal aquifer to sea-level rise. Rapid sea-level rise led to a rise in the groundwater table and inundation of the area around Tel Dor, while periods with slower rates of sea-level rise resulted in coastal sand deposition. The settlement gap at Dor between 7 and 5.6 ka possibly reflects the behavioral response of the coastal settlers to sea-level fluctuation, and sediment depositional variation instigating aquifer inundation coastal marsh development and mobilization of sand bodies. This study provides a record of beach profile build-up along the Mediterranean coast of Israel and serves as an example of how sea-level rise affect unconfined coastal aquifers and the formation of wetlands due to rising water tables in low elevation coasts. Coastal inundation is a long-term risk factor for densely populated low-lying coastal regions that require a proactive approach for solving cascading impacts of sea-level rise.

Evaluation of human thermal comfort near urban waterbody during summer

The article provides a brief overview of approaches to classifying the degree of danger of natural phenomena and the types of possible hazards for coastal territories. It is shown that some approaches are universal and can be applied to almost any category of the coast to improve decision-making tools when planning the development and modernization of coastal infrastructure, including in Russia. Such approaches can be considered as a methodological basis for a simple assessment of the hazards inherent in the coastal environment in a changing climate. The paper also considers the system of comprehensive classification of coastal areas, which uses as a basis a geological classification, which is superimposed on the main dynamic forces and processes acting in the coastal environment and on the geological framework itself. Using this methodology, a total of 113 typical coastal environments were identified, and attempts were made to keep the number of typical environments as low as possible, while maintaining the usefulness of the classification system considered from the point of view of decision support. This system allows for practical classification by collecting data on the ground and using remote sensing of the Earth, or mainly using remote means. The system includes the following components: geological and chemical structure, wave parameters, tidal characteristics, flora/fauna, sediment balance and storm climate. Each common coastal system has a specific combination of these variables. The geological plan includes the following categories: coastal plain; barrier; islands; rocky coast; coral islands; tidal inlet / spit / estuary.

The Aesthetics of Island Space discusses islands as central figures in the modern experience of space. It examines the spatial poetics of islands in literary texts (from The Tempest to The Hungry Tide), journals of explorers and scientists (such as Cook and Darwin), and Hollywood cinema (e.g. The Hurricane and King Kong), tracing how islands have offered vivid perceptual experiences as well as a geopoetic oscillation between the poetic energies of words and images and the material energies of the physical world. Its chapters focus on America’s island gateways (e.g. Roanoke and Ellis Island), tropical islands (e.g. Tahiti and imagined South Sea islands), the islands of the Pacific Northwest, and mutable islands (e.g. the volcanic and coral islands in Wells’s fiction). The book argues that the modern voyages of discovery posed considerable perceptual challenges to spatial experience, and that these challenges were negotiated via the poetic engagement with islands. Postcolonial theorists maintain that islands have been imagined as geometrical abstractions subjected to the colonial gaze. There is, however, a second story of islands in the Western imagination which runs parallel to this colonial story: the experience of islands in the age of discovery also went hand in hand with a disintegration of received models of global space. Rethinking (post-)phenomenological, geocritical, and geopoetic theories, The Aesthetics of Island Space suggests that the modern encounters with islands as mobile and shifting territories implied a diversification of spatial experience, and explores how this disruption is registered and negotiated by non-fictional and fictional responses.

I. I ntroduction . V ery little of a detailed character has, so far as I am aware, been published on the geology of the Tonga Islands. Prof. Dana makes a brief mention of some of the islands in ‘Coral and Coral Islands’ ; and in the edition of ‘Coral Reefs’ punished in 1874 Darwin gave a summary of what was known of the group. I spent several months in Tonga in 1889 and 1890, and had opportunit, ies of visiting some of the islands in H.M.S. ‘Egeria,’ which was engaged, for part of the time, in making a survey. Such observations as I made on the geology of the group are embodied in the following notes. II . T opography of the G roup . The Tonga or Friendly Islands are situated in the Pacific Ocean between 18° and 22° 30' lat. S., and on either side of the 175th degree long. W. Tongatabu lies a little over 1000 miles to the N.N.E. of Auckland in New Zealand. The large islands of Fiji are about 400 miles to the W.N.W., and those of Samoa about 300 miles to the N.N.E. The greater number of islands fall into three main groups. The northernmost is Vavau, which consists of one moderately large island (about 13 miles in its longest diameter), giving its name to the group, and a number of islets lying to the south and south-west of it. Rather more than fifty miles to the south is the Hapai group, containing the high volcanic islands of

Kum, B.-C.; Shin, D.-H.; Lee, J.H.; Moh, T.J.; Jang, S.; Lee, S.Y., and Cho, J.H., 2018. Monitoring Applications for Multifunctional Unmanned Surface Vehicles in Marine Coastal Environments. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1381–1385. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This work investigates the application of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for the management of coastal environment. USVs are an important and highly accessible tool for operating in shallow and nearshore waters. Sea trials are used to test the maneuverability and bathymetric survey capabilities of USVs. The results show that USVs have the potential to be an integrative platform for surveying shallow water zones (rivers, estuaries, and coasts), which can be enhanced by installing various transducers and sensor modules. The advances in sensing technologies and micro...

The coastal zone offers among the world’s most productive and valuable ecosystems and is experiencing increasing pressure from anthropogenic impacts: human settlements, agriculture, aquaculture, trade, industrial activities, oil and gas exploitation and tourism. Earth observation has great capability to deliver valuable data at the local, regional and global scales and can support the assessment and monitoring of land- and water-related applications in coastal zones. Compared to optical satellites, cloud-cover does not limit the timeliness of data acquisition with spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors, which have all-weather, day and night capabilities. Hence, active radar systems demonstrate great potential for continuous mapping and monitoring of coastal regions, particularly in cloud-prone tropical and sub-tropical climates. The canopy penetration capability with long radar wavelength enables L-band SAR data to be used for coastal terrestrial environments and has been widely applied and investigated for the following geoscientific topics: mapping and monitoring of flooded vegetation and inundated areas; the retrieval of aboveground biomass; and the estimation of soil moisture. Human activities, global population growth, urban sprawl and climate change-induced impacts are leading to increased pressure on coastal ecosystems causing land degradation, deforestation and land use change. This review presents a comprehensive overview of existing research articles that apply spaceborne L-band SAR data for geoscientific analyses that are relevant for coastal land applications.

Enggano Island is one of the outermost islands of Indonesia. Among the recoverable resources that exist in Enggano Island are coral reef ecosystems. A coral reef ecosystem is also one of the ecosystems with a high level of biodiversity productivity having a major role as habitats, feeding places, and the coastal protection from the crashing of waves and strong currents. Currently, coral reefs are being destroyed either by nature or humans. The ability of an ecosystem to adapt to a disturbance or potential damage is called adaptive capacity. The aim of the study was to assess the adaptive capacity of corals in terms of their health levels to estimate the carrying capacity of marine ecotourism. The observation method used was survey method. Adaptive capacity measurements were carried out by analyzing six parameters: hard coral cover (%), distances from human settlements (km), dominance of lifeform, types of lifeform, reef fish species, and coral reef depth (m). The results of this study showed that Enggano Island corals had the adaptive capacity that fell into two categories: medium and adaptiveEnggano Island is one of the outermost islands of Indonesia. Among the recoverable resources that exist in Enggano Island are coral reef ecosystems. A coral reef ecosystem is also one of the ecosystems with a high level of biodiversity productivity having a major role as habitats, feeding places, and the coastal protection from the crashing of waves and strong currents. Currently, coral reefs are being destroyed either by nature or humans. The ability of an ecosystem to adapt to a disturbance or potential damage is called adaptive capacity. The aim of the study was to assess the adaptive capacity of corals in terms of their health levels to estimate the carrying capacity of marine ecotourism. The observation method used was survey method. Adaptive capacity measurements were carried out by analyzing six parameters: hard coral cover (%), distances from human settlements (km), dominance of lifeform, types of lifeform, reef fish species, and coral reef depth (m). The results of this study showed that Enggano Island corals had the adaptive capacity that fell into two categories: medium and adaptive

Continental Physiography, Climate, and the Global Distribution of Human Population

Sustainable human settlement on Mars will require in situ resource utilization (ISRU), the collection and utilization of Mars-based resources, including notably water and a substrate for food production. Plants will be fundamental components of future human missions to Mars, and the question of whether Mars soils can support plant growth is still open. Moreover, plant cultivation may suffer from the lack of in situ liquid water, which might constitute one of the biggest challenges for ISRU-based food production on Mars. Enhancing the crop yield with less water input and improving water utilization by plants are thus chief concern for sustainable ISRU food production. Hydrogels are polymers able to absorb large quantity of water and to increase soil water retention, plant establishment and growth. This work reports on the short-term assessment of plant growth in Mars soil analogs supplemented with hydrogels. Soil analogs consisted of sand and clay-rich material, with low organic matter content and alkaline pH. Soils were supplemented with 10% (w/w) potting medium and were sampled in Utah desert, in the vicinity of the Mars Desert Research Station, surrounded by soils sharing similarities in mineralogical and chemical composition to Martian soils. Height and dry biomass of spearmint ( Mentha spicata ) were compared under various irrigation frequencies, and seed germination of radish ( Raphanus sativus ) were monitored. Under limited irrigation, results indicate that the soil analogs were less capable of supporting plant growth as a comparison to potting medium. The effects of hydrogel supplementation were significant under limited irrigation and led to spearmint heights increased by 3 and 6% in clay- and sand-containing soils, respectively. Similarly, hydrogel supplementation resulted in spearmint mass increased by 110% in clay-containing soils and 78% in sand-containing soils. Additionally, while radish seeds failed to germinate in soil analogs, hydrogel supplementation allows for the germination of 27% of seeds, indicating that hydrogels might help loosening dense media with low water retention. Collectively, the results suggest that supplementation with hydrogel and plant growth substrate could help plants cope with limited irrigation and poor alkaline Mars soil analogs, and are discussed in the context of strategies for ISRU-based off-world colonization.

Understanding the dynamics of water and mass interactions in the coastal area is essential to quantify the influences of near-shore land use on the coastal aquifers and water environment. The study aims to integrate innovative experiments and modeling techniques to assess the heat and water exchanges in the coastal aquifer of the Taoyuan Tableland in northwestern Taiwan. The site-specific hydraulic and heat tracer tests are conducted to obtain flow and heat transfer properties for the specific aquifer layers at the site. We then used the SEAWAT numerical model to quantify the freshwater and seawater interactions. The model calibration relies on the groundwater levels and quality obtained from monitoring wells installed perpendicular to the shoreline. The experimental results show that the active heat tracer tests could significantly improve the identification of aquifer layers along a well and allow for the estimations of high-resolution natural groundwater flux toward the sea. The estimated flow rate based on the heat tracer test is approximately 0.2 m/day per unit depth. The numerical model shows good agreement with the observed water levels in wells. In the study area, the location of the seawater/groundwater mixing interface is estimated at approximately 350m seaward from the shoreline, which suggests the submarine groundwater discharge zone for the site. The vertical profile model shows that the flow rate for the 100m depth aquifer varies from 51 to 60 m3/day per unit width, depending on the tidal variations and upstream groundwater levels. The results show a large flow rate discrepancy between experimental and numerical approaches, which the resolution scales of the approaches might induce in the calculations. The water levels obtained from the fully opened screen wells might mix the flow responses in different aquifer layers.

<p>This study investigated the potential for, and efficiency of, particulate nitrogen uptake from the sediment and subsequent consequences of this on the nutrient status of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) in the temperate zooxanthellate anemone Anthopleura aureoradiata. Sediment was collected from a mudflat and labelled with (15NH4)2SO4 before being provided to A. aureoradiata at low (5 g dry weight) and high sediment (20 g dry weight) loads for 6 hours. While no discernible change in the isotopic content of the sediment could be detected, analysis of the host and algal symbionts revealed that 15N had been taken up. Uptake by the host was similar at both high and low sediment loads, but the algal symbionts acquired more nitrogen at the lower load (1.13 versus 0.93 atom % 15N in the low and high loads, respectively). Evaluation of this particulate nitrogen uptake from the sediment was further examined by measuring the nitrogen status of the zooxanthellae. This was determined by measuring the extent to which ammonium (40 muM NH+4) enhanced the rate of zooxanthellar dark carbon fixation above that seen in filtered seawater (FSW) alone; the enhancement ratio was expressed as [dark NH+4 rate/dark FSW rate]. VD'/VL, a further index of nitrogen status, was also calculated where VD' = [dark NH+4 rate - dark FSW rate] and VL = rate of carbon fixation in the light. When anemones were starved for 2-8 weeks, zooxanthellar nitrogen deficiency became apparent at greater than or equal to 4 weeks, with NH+4/FSW and VD'/VL averaging up to 2.90 and 0.11, respectively. In comparison, when anemones were fed 5 times per week for 8 weeks the addition of ammonium had little effect, indicating nitrogen sufficiency; NH+4/FSW and VD'/VL values were 1.03 and -1.0 x 10-3, respectively. The nitrogen status of zooxanthellae from anemones starved and incubated with and without sediment was examined with no apparent difference between sediment and no sediment treatments; zooxanthellar nitrogen deficiency became apparent at greater than or equal to 4 weeks in both treatments, with NH+4/FSW and VD'/VL averaging up to 3.73 and 0.17 for the sediment treatment and 2.74 and 0.15 for the no sediment treatment, respectively. The nitrogen status of zooxanthellae from anemones found on a mudflat (Pauatahanui Inlet) and a rocky intertidal site (Kau Bay) was different. Zooxanthellae from mudflat anemones were nitrogen sufficient with NH+4/FSW and VD'/VL values averaging up to 1.26 and -6.0 x 10-3, respectively. Nitrogen deficient zooxanthellae were present in anemones from the rocky intertidal. Anemones from tide pools in the upper littoral zone had NH+4/FSW and VD'/VL values of 2.99 and 0.11, respectively, while anemones from the mid littoral zone had NH+4/FSW and VD'/VL of 2.90 and 0.13, respectively; there was no significant difference in nitrogen status between zooxanthellae from high shore tide pool anemones and aerially exposed mid-littoral anemones. These results suggest that while particulate nitrogen can be taken up from the sediment by this species, dissolved inorganic nitrogen such as ammonium in the seawater, and especially the interstitial water surrounding infaunal anemones on mudflats, may be a more important source of nitrogen in the field.</p>

The geomorphological, sedimentological and archaeological studies of coastal features in the Iwik-Aouatil area show two categories of coastal sedimentary units: very extensive sand flats and linear relief features covered by a thin veneer of anthropogenic Anadara senilis shell-middens. These units provide an opportunity to discuss the return to arid conditions in western Sahara during the Late Holocene, when climate changes induced the alternating occurrence of more or less dry episodes, from around 5 ka until today. These constructions reflect the global climate change within the general framework known for the region. Two different processes occurred: (1) constant deposition of wide sand-flats and (2) construction of sedimentary ridges at specific moments. These processes demonstrate the existence of (1) constant sand discharge during the whole period as sand availability is not a limiting factor and (2) a substantially increased sand influx during the 4.2-3.2 ka episode. Because of sea-level stability in the Banc d’Arguin area during the Late Holocene, the variability of morphogenetic agents is considered to be the likely cause of fluctuations, influencing sand input rate and implying that either sand was delivered in greater abundance (aridity crisis and stronger winds) or littoral drift was more powerful (stronger waves and more frequent storms in the northern part of the Atlantic ocean), or both simultaneously. The action of these two driving forces in the depositional processes observed in the Iwik-Aouatil coastal plain is evaluated with respect to the occurrence of episodes of rapid climate changes (RCCs) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) changes. A climate pattern combining episodes of RCC and NAO positive (NAO+) index during the 4.5-3.2 ka period is convenient for both sand supply, which accelerates the southwestward migration of barchan’s lines, and sand transportation, which improves the efficiency of the littoral drift.

This chapter discusses vulnerability and adaptation of the coastal communities to climate change impacts with the aim of contributing to an understanding on how vulnerability and livelihoods are constructed among coastal communities, with particular focus on Mtwara communities along the southern coast of Mtwara Region, Tanzania. This study aimed at identifying pathways to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience of livelihoods of the concerned coastal communities. The study was conducted in four villages purposively selected based on the existing diversity reflecting issues related to fishing as well as farming livelihoods. The selection of the villages was also made to cover both the coastal strip and the nearby zone, to capture issues related to coastal fishing and farming. A total of 200 households were included in the survey, 122 of whom were males. The research methods used in the two phases included key informant interviews, FGDs, transect walks and on-sight observations. The study also employed an integrated assessment of socioecological systems’ vulnerability to climate change and variability as well as adaptive capacity and the implications of these in resilience. Climatic data from the TMA were also obtained in order to complement the observations from the field. Data from this study show that challenges and impacts associated with climate change are evident in this coastal environment of Tanzania. Common impacts included destruction of coral reefs, coastal erosion, destruction of coastal infrastructures and human settlements. They also included intrusion of seawater into freshwater wells and crop fields in the areas. Sea level rise was probably the most challenging climate change issue in the region since it threatened not only the livelihoods of the already stressed coastal communities but also the economy and integrity of the coastal ecosystems and resources.

Mining of sand and stone from the coasts provides an inexpensive source of materials for the construction industry while providing income to contractors. However, these activities come at a cost to the coastal environment and pose a threat to the tourism industry along the Ghanaian coast. This paper identified the various types of coastal sand and stone mining activities, the level at which they are undertaken and covers the trends in coastal erosion along the coast of Cape Coast, Ghana. ArcGIS (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA) and Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS; ESRI) tools were used to determine short-term (2005–2012) coastline changes using 2005 and 2012 coastlines data. This study estimates that tipper-truck-based beach sand mining activities alone account for the loss of about 285,376 m3/year of sand from the littoral zone in the Cape Coast area. It was also established that the average erosion rate for the Cape Coast area within the seven year period is 0.85 m/year with two areas recording high erosion rates of 4.35 m/year and 4.25 m/year. The study concludes that sand mining is the main cause of erosion along the coastline of Cape Coast.