Rocky Coast Working Group

picture

Cover Photo from the WG publication Rock Coast Geomorphology: A global perspective published by the Geological Society. The shore platforms and cliffs of the Vale of Glamorgan, U.K.. The scene is taken from Witches Point, Dunraven, looking south to Monknash Point and Nash Point in the distance. (Courtesy of Prof Alan Trenhaile)

WG Chairs:

Prof. Stefano Furlani sfurlani@units.it
University of Trieste (Italy)

Dr. Lluis Gomez Pujol lgomez-pujol@uib.es
Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain)

Dr. Matt Strzelecki mateusz.strzelecki@uwr.edu.pl
University of Wrocław (Poland)

Past Chairs:

Wayne STEPHENSON (Australia)

Larissa NAYLOR (UK)

David Kennedy (Australia)


Introduction to WG activity

The rocky coast working group of the IAG/AIG was established in 2005 to further geomorphic enquiry into a relatively unstudied landform system, the rocky coast. The working group was extended in 2009 (Melbourne), 2013 (Paris) and 2017 (New Delhi). The working group currently has around 80 members in 20 countries and is continuing an active academic and policy discussion on the evolution and dynamics of rock coasts. It has seen the development of a process-approach to rocky coasts and application of new radioisotope methodologies (e.g. cosmogenic dating) to the study of cliffs and shore platforms.

Forthcoming…

Preparations are under way for the International Rock Coast Conference to be held in Trieste (Italy) in August 2020, see the associated page here.

Key Achievements

The working group has successfully produced special issues of Marine Geology and Geomorphology and has sponsored many special sessions at international conferences from the European Geophysical Union to the IAG/AIG regional and general congresses. A special issue entitled ‘Rock Coast Geomorphology: A global perspective’ was published by the Geological Society in 2014. This volume provides a regionally-based analysis of the world’s rock coast landforms. The International Coastal Symposium was held in Sydney in early 2016 http://ics2016.org/index.html.