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Environmental impact of detached breakwaters on the Mediterranean coastline of Soliman (North-East of Tunisia)

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Abstract

The coastline of Soliman (North-East of Tunisia) suffered from erosion mainly during a strong storm that occurred in 1981. Two breakwaters were constructed in 1989 to protect the shoreline in front of the Solymar hotel and five detached breakwaters were implanted between 1989 and 1990 for the protection of the zone of the Soliman Beach from shoreline retreat. The evolution of the coastal area and the effect of these breakwaters were studied using aerial photographs treated by digital photogrammetric methods. The distances of coastline retreat or advance and the areas lost or gained along the studied zone were calculated by GIS software. The breakwaters of the Solymar hotel formed two tombolos. The breakwaters of the Soliman Beach which are very near the shoreline developed very small tombolos and those which are very far form the shoreline gave rise to eroded areas. The studied zone is subjected to important erosion evaluated at−167,354 m2 despite the installation of the breakwaters. Such result is explained by the effect of the protective structures’ characteristics mainly the breakwaters lengths, the shoreline-breakwater distance, and the gap between successive breakwaters. In addition, the gyratory currents generated by the North North-Western waves play a great role in depriving the beach of Soliman of sediments.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like thank the members of Coastal Research Group (GIOC) of the University of Cantabria for their help in the use of the Coastal Modelling System (SMC).

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Correspondence to Hanen Saïdi.

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Saïdi, H., Souissi, R. & Zargouni, F. Environmental impact of detached breakwaters on the Mediterranean coastline of Soliman (North-East of Tunisia). Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 23, 339–347 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-012-0191-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-012-0191-3

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