Ismail Aouiche (Thèse) - LGO

Abstract

Coastal systems where sediment transport is perturbed by engineering interventions on the shoreline and shoreface commonly provide fine examples liable to throw light on these links. This is especially so where shoreface bathymetric datasets, which are generally lacking, are collected over time, enabling more or less fine resolution of the meso-scale coastal sediment budget. Agadir Bay and the city of Agadir together form one of the two most important economic development poles on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Using a combined methodological approach based on wave–current modelling, bathymetric chart-differencing, determination of shoreline fluctuations, and beach topographic surveying, we highlight the close links between variations in the bed of the inner shoreface and the bay shoreline involving both cross-shore and longshore sand transport pathways, sediment budget variations and new sediment cell patterns. This work discusses also the morphological changes and evolution of Agadir Bay beach (Morocco) in response to eight storms between January 2014 and March 2014. A comparison is carried out of the evolution and variability of the beach in a sector of the bay protected by the commercial harbour of Agadir relative to a sector down drift of the harbour that is more exposed to waves, and changes affecting the beach following these storms are examined. Wave influence is evaluated using numerical simulations. The results show that despite being of relatively low intensity, the two first storm events, and especially storm 1, are responsible for major beach morphological changes.

Ismail Aouiche (PhD)

Ismail Aouiche

Sediment morpho dynamics of the bay of Agadir : multi-method approach and recommendations for an integrated management of the coastal zone

Abstract