27
The North East Coastline of Scotland
In addition, there are considerable variations in the exposure of beaches, i.e.
the orientation of the beach arc in relation to dominant wave trains. The North Sea
beaches, for example, are normally set in arcs reflecting the dominant fetch of
southeasterly wind-generated waves, and thus contrast with the more sheltered arc of
Burghead Bay. Special attention should be paid to the area between Fraserburgh and
Peterhead where open fetches to the north and northeast create particularly exposed
and potentially high energy conditions. Certain beaches like Stotfield Links are
partially protected by off-lying skerries, others have very narrow exposure arcs
governed by the relatively rigid geological framework as in the case of much of the
Banffshire coast. As if to compensate for the high energy status of the North Sea coast,
the beaches of the Inner Moray Firth are considerably affected by the strong tidal
currents settling westwards into the Moray Firth, and accentuated by its decreasing
width in the same direction.
Setting these constraints aside, it is possible to characterise the North Sea and
Moray Firth coasts as respectively actively building or balanced beaches, and
retrograding or redistributing beaches. On the North Sea coast, beaches change their
characteristics frequently in response to weather and tidal circumstances, but overall
tend to be building beaches. Their landward dunes confirm this continuing supply of
material. Because these beaches face the North Sea, the pattern of wave activity is
multi-directional, and material can move in quite contrary directions on different
occasions. Stream deflection and spit development seems to indicate a north-going
trend, and this has been substantiated by wave climate calculations for Aberdeen Bay.
In the Moray Firth, only parts of the beach complexes appear to be building systems,
and usually the source of the material is derived from immediately updrift, often on the
same physiographic unit. Whiteness Head, for example, is building at its western end,
and suffering progressive erosion at its eastern 'up-drift' end. One part of the coast is in
a sense evolving at the expense of the stability of another (basically beach
cannibalism), with the net result being the infilling of the Inner Moray Firth. Sediment
transport is notably uni-directional.
Thus, the variety of materials identified offshore below wave base has only a
hypothetical interest, at least in the Moray Firth coastal situation, as the evidence
seems to suggest that very little of the remaining offshore sediment is finding its way
into the wave-break zone. In this sense, periods of substantial beach replenishment and
construction may follow glacial episodes and these in their turn may be followed by
periods of relative beach starvation. Nevertheless, these are superimposed onto the
short-term cycles of beach and shoreline change related to the weather variables which
affect coastline evolution.
The North East Coastline of Scotland
In addition, there are considerable variations in the exposure of beaches, i.e.
the orientation of the beach arc in relation to dominant wave trains. The North Sea
beaches, for example, are normally set in arcs reflecting the dominant fetch of
southeasterly wind-generated waves, and thus contrast with the more sheltered arc of
Burghead Bay. Special attention should be paid to the area between Fraserburgh and
Peterhead where open fetches to the north and northeast create particularly exposed
and potentially high energy conditions. Certain beaches like Stotfield Links are
partially protected by off-lying skerries, others have very narrow exposure arcs
governed by the relatively rigid geological framework as in the case of much of the
Banffshire coast. As if to compensate for the high energy status of the North Sea coast,
the beaches of the Inner Moray Firth are considerably affected by the strong tidal
currents settling westwards into the Moray Firth, and accentuated by its decreasing
width in the same direction.
Setting these constraints aside, it is possible to characterise the North Sea and
Moray Firth coasts as respectively actively building or balanced beaches, and
retrograding or redistributing beaches. On the North Sea coast, beaches change their
characteristics frequently in response to weather and tidal circumstances, but overall
tend to be building beaches. Their landward dunes confirm this continuing supply of
material. Because these beaches face the North Sea, the pattern of wave activity is
multi-directional, and material can move in quite contrary directions on different
occasions. Stream deflection and spit development seems to indicate a north-going
trend, and this has been substantiated by wave climate calculations for Aberdeen Bay.
In the Moray Firth, only parts of the beach complexes appear to be building systems,
and usually the source of the material is derived from immediately updrift, often on the
same physiographic unit. Whiteness Head, for example, is building at its western end,
and suffering progressive erosion at its eastern 'up-drift' end. One part of the coast is in
a sense evolving at the expense of the stability of another (basically beach
cannibalism), with the net result being the infilling of the Inner Moray Firth. Sediment
transport is notably uni-directional.
Thus, the variety of materials identified offshore below wave base has only a
hypothetical interest, at least in the Moray Firth coastal situation, as the evidence
seems to suggest that very little of the remaining offshore sediment is finding its way
into the wave-break zone. In this sense, periods of substantial beach replenishment and
construction may follow glacial episodes and these in their turn may be followed by
periods of relative beach starvation. Nevertheless, these are superimposed onto the
short-term cycles of beach and shoreline change related to the weather variables which
affect coastline evolution.