Document Type : Original Article
Author
Department of Geography, Faculty of Humanities, King Khalid University. Abha
Abstract
Coastal Plain in Asir Region under investigation stretches in the southwest of Saudi Arabia. The geo-morphologic features, shoreline configuration, sediment characteristics and dynamics have been established for understanding the processes that influence the coastal environments. The shoreline of the studied area is not linear and smooth; instead, it is complicated by arcuate beaches, sharms, inlets, lagoons, barriers and rocky hills. The width of the coastal plain varies widely; it is wide and featureless towards the south of the study area while being narrow and bounded by resistant sea cliffs towards the north of the study area. Asir coastal landforms include a marsh system, inlet and swamps, wave swash, dunes, shoreline processes, beach bars, a spit system, wadi systems and sabkha systems. Conditions on such beaches change rapidly. It is a unique environment, being characterized by some of the major geological environments (e.g. coastal reefs, mangrove stands, marshes, sabkhas, alluvial fans, sea cliffs, recent sediments, sand dunes, sabkhas, sand beaches, lagoons, nebkas, wadis, coral reefs, organic matter, and vegetation areas). The aim of this paper is to follow and assess the environment and characteristics of landforms. The previous procedures happen through measuring biodiversity, landforms and geo-morphological processes on the coastline. The study uses several methods such as field study, collection of samples from different geo-morphic environments of the coastal area,comparing the geo-morphological and environmental changes from maps and also using remote sensing and GIS techniques.
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