Coastal Lowlands, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1989 Geology and Geotechnology

Coastal Lowlands by virtue of their position across the boundary of land and sea belong to the earth's most dynamic systems. This is true in the physical, i. e. geological and biological, as much as in the cultural and social sense. Although the nearness to the sea was and still is fraught with danger coastal lowlands have always attracted human interest, providing challenging opportunity, holding the promise of profitable enterprise. Coastal lowlands, especially where rivers enter the region, are the cradles of great civilisations and there, of old, populations reached highest densities. As an example, Dutch history is a tale of human struggle and endeavour with and against the sea. Dutch 'low landers' wrestled their land from the sea, in turn the sea forged a nation of independent fishermen, navigators, farmers and traders who built their towns and ships at the borders of the North and Zuyder Seas. As lowlands subside and sea level rises, apparently these days at an increasing rate, concern about this environment world-wide is also rising. It certainly was appropriate and timely for the Royal Geological and Mining Society of the Netherlands when celebrating its 75th birthday to organize and call together a symposium, focussing attention on the geology and geotechnology of coastal lowlands; geology to better understand their formation and evolution, geotechnology to better manage and harvest resources as much as protect a unique and crucial environment.

Deltaic coastal wetlands.- The Hudson Bay Lowland: major geologic features and assets.- Cyclic morphologic changes of the ebb-tidal delta, Texel Inlet, The Netherlands.- Intraplate stresses and the stratigraphie evolution of the North Sea Central Graben.- Revision of the ‘Late Jurassic’ stratigraphy of the Dutch Central North Sea Graben.- The Netherlands during the Tertiary and the Quaternary: A case history of Coastal Lowland evolution.- Geological and geotechnical conditions of the Beaufort Sea coastal zone, Arctic Canada.- Time dependent groundwater flow under river embankments.- The development of two major Indonesian river deltas: morphology and sedimentary aspects of the Solo and Porong deltas, East Java.- Hydrodynamic and depositional processes of the Solo and Porong deltas, East Java, Indonesia.- Coastal development of Nile Delta.- Development of the Cenozoic Niger Delta in terms of the ‘Escalator Regression’ model and impact on hydrocarbon distribution.- The Niger Delta: hydrocarbon potential of a major Tertiary delta province.- Barrier islands, tidal flats, and coastal marshes resulting from a relative rise of sea level in East Frisia on the German North Sea coast.- Morphodynamics of the West-Central Florida barrier system: the delicate balance between wave- and tide-domination.- Pb-210 as a tracer for sediment transport and deposition in the Dutch-German Waddensea.- Transfer/noise modelling in groundwater management: an example.- An organisation scheme for the operation and management of the ground water level monitoring network in the Netherlands.- Study to forecast and to prevent damage resulting from reclamation of the Markerwaard polder.- Geohydrological effects of the reclamation of the Markerwaard polder.- Secondary effects of the reclamation ofthe Markerwaard polder.- The Markerwaard reclamation project: geotechnical topics.- The Markerwaard project: countermeasures to prevent detrimental effects, a feasibility study.- The geology and geotechnology of the Keta basin with particular reference to coastal protection.- The geotechnics of the Coastal Lowlands of the United Arab Emirates.- Geodata management system, a computerized data base for geotechnical engineering.- Some thoughts on hydrocarbon exploration in the Paris Basin.- Natural radioactive heavy minerals in sediments along the Dutch coast.- Evaluation of Landsat imagery for Coastal-Lowland uranium exploration.