Field Investigation on the Coastal Erosion and Progradation Evolution of the Binzhou Shelly Chenier in China: Comparisons between Normal and Typhoon Hydrodynamics

The shelly chenier is a dike-like accumulation formed by waves, currents, and other hydrodynamic forces pushing the shells and their debris in the intertidal zone to the high tide line. It is a special type of coastal dike. The shelly chenier located in Wangzi Island of northern Shandong Province is the last well-preserved chenier of the Bohai Bay with natural attributes exposed on the surface. It has unique and irreplaceable attributes among the shell beaches of China. Based on remote sensing interpretation, field investigation, and GPS-RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) measurement, this paper investigates the coastal erosion and progradation evolution of the Binzhou Shelly Chenier in China usingcomparisons between normal and typhoon hydrodynamics. The results show that: (1) There are two kinds of shelly chenier in the study area, the first is “the tidal channel shelly chenier” which is significantly affected by the tidal current, and the second is “the open shelly chenier”, which is significantly affected by direct scouring and silting of waves. The open shelly chenier is continuously eroding under the normal hydrodynamics and the shell beach is supplied by a large number of shells and their debris under the typhoon hydrodynamics, while the tidal channel shelly chenier is gradually developed due to the action of alongshore currents and in–out flows. (2) The energy of waves and currents under normal hydrodynamics is insufficient to transport the shells and their debris in the intertidal zone to the shell-beach. On the contrary, the continuous action of waves makes the shells and their debris on the open-shell beach finer and transports the shells and their debris to the sea causing erosion and retreat of the shelly chenier. (3) The action of typhoons and other strong winds and waves results in the original accumulation on the open shell-beach being further transported to the land and provides a large amount of shells and debris from the intertidal zone to the shelly chenier. Based on GPS-RTK monitoring data from 2020–2021, it was found that the transport volume of shells and debris caused by a typhoon storm surge is equivalent to the annual transport volume under normal ocean dynamics.