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Assessment of the Coastal Sensitivity in the Southern Mediterranean Using the CSI

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Abstract

Assessment of the coastal erosion risk using the coastal sensitivity index (CSI) in the microtidal environment (Gulf of Gabes, Tunisia) shows that 78.6% of the coast is under low to moderate sensitivity. Moderate sensitivity class includes the sheltered zones and the stable sea cliffs. The highest sensitivity was recorded in sandy beaches (12.7%) where the drift actions amplify littoral fragility and flood risk. The CSI resulted from the combination of eight ranked variables: (a) geomorphology; (b) hinterland topography; (c) coastal slope; (d) facies; (e) shoreline exposure; (f) shoreline changes; (g) tide and (h) sea-level trend. A flexible remotely sensed database has been generated including numerical values of the ranked parameters. Fifty-six morphodynamic cells were deduced from a strict morphologic classification of the studied coast. The obtained database presents a basis to classify each specified cell according to its sensitivity to erosion. The beaches are immediately disturbed, once the touristic infrastructures are installed in the backshore. The application of coastal sensitivity assessment may introduce a sustainable remediation for use in the coastal zone.

Article Highlights

The CSI is used in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia) to quantify littoral instability risk.

A flexible remotely sensed database is used in the application.

Partition of the coastal segments is based on morphologic classification of the coast.

Management of the potential sites must be adapted to the risk value.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The research work is carried in the Higher Institute of Water Sciences and Technics (University of Gabes). The authors are grateful to the editor and the reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions in improving the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Higher Institute of Water Sciences and Techniques, U.R: Applied Hydrosciences, University of Gabes, 6072, Zrig, Gabes, Tunisia

    Maher Gzam, Basma Mansouri, Dorra Gargouri & Adel Kharroubi

Authors
  1. Maher Gzam
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  2. Basma Mansouri
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  3. Dorra Gargouri
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  4. Adel Kharroubi
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Contributions

Maher Gzam: Conceptualization, developing the research idea; writing the first draft; analyzing the output of the vulnerability map; Basma Mansouri: preparation and analysis of the parameters and digitization of the ranked variables and image plots; Dorra Gargouri: Review the original draft; Adel Kharroubi: visualization and supervision. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Maher Gzam.

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Gzam, M., Mansouri, B., Gargouri, D. et al. Assessment of the Coastal Sensitivity in the Southern Mediterranean Using the CSI. Environ. Process. 9, 39 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-022-00584-w

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