Harbors and ports
When sailors began to ply the seas, they used irregularities
in the shoreline as harbors. Eventually they were modified
converting them into ports. The Mediterranean, with its
very irregular shorelines, became extensively used by various trading and warring cultures such as the Minoans,
Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans. The Phoenicians, for
example, had more than 75 ports between the Atlantic
Ocean and the Black Sea (Sarton, 1960).
Although port development in the so-called Dark Ages
and for a few centuries after was limited, during the
periods of exploration/discovery/colonization and industrialization, ports increased in number and complexity
(Figure 1b) and today are common along most of the
coastlines of the world. Their number, size, and complexity vary with many factors including the nature of the
coastline, location, population, and function.
Because natural harbors are rare along some coasts,
ports are constructed by enclosing open ocean areas with
offshore breakwaters and in some locales by dredging
behind natural coastal barriers. Another type of modern
facility is the deep-water mooring buoy from which pipelines transfer materials to onshore facilities. Ports are classified in a variety of ways, e.g., by size, location, and
function. The World Port Index (NGIA, 2012) divides
ports into eight types including those on rivers, lakes,
and canals as well as on ocean shorelines. Of the eight
types, the largest number falls in the coastal breakwater
−1.25
−4.50
+0.50
Polder ditch
Pumping station
POLDER
a
b
c
d
N
Pumping station Polder ditch
S e a w a l l
A r m
o r B l o c k s
Groins
Dike
Dike
m
+1
0
−1
−2
−3
−4
−5
Main canal
A
B
Depth (m)
−1.10
A
B
Sluice gate
Engineered Coasts, Figure 1 Examples of engineered coasts: (a) the polder system (modified from Stive and Waterman, 2002); (b)
the port of Genoa: note the protected natural harbor and the engineered structures (screenshot used by permission. Copyright@Esri.
ArcGIS Data Providers); (c) Kojima, Japan; ~5 ha in size (from Walker, 2012); (d) Palm Jumeirah, a 5.72
2 km artificial residential and
recreational island in Dubai (USGS/NASA Landsat).
228
ENGINEERED COASTS
When sailors began to ply the seas, they used irregularities
in the shoreline as harbors. Eventually they were modified
converting them into ports. The Mediterranean, with its
very irregular shorelines, became extensively used by various trading and warring cultures such as the Minoans,
Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans. The Phoenicians, for
example, had more than 75 ports between the Atlantic
Ocean and the Black Sea (Sarton, 1960).
Although port development in the so-called Dark Ages
and for a few centuries after was limited, during the
periods of exploration/discovery/colonization and industrialization, ports increased in number and complexity
(Figure 1b) and today are common along most of the
coastlines of the world. Their number, size, and complexity vary with many factors including the nature of the
coastline, location, population, and function.
Because natural harbors are rare along some coasts,
ports are constructed by enclosing open ocean areas with
offshore breakwaters and in some locales by dredging
behind natural coastal barriers. Another type of modern
facility is the deep-water mooring buoy from which pipelines transfer materials to onshore facilities. Ports are classified in a variety of ways, e.g., by size, location, and
function. The World Port Index (NGIA, 2012) divides
ports into eight types including those on rivers, lakes,
and canals as well as on ocean shorelines. Of the eight
types, the largest number falls in the coastal breakwater
−1.25
−4.50
+0.50
Polder ditch
Pumping station
POLDER
a
b
c
d
N
Pumping station Polder ditch
S e a w a l l
A r m
o r B l o c k s
Groins
Dike
Dike
m
+1
0
−1
−2
−3
−4
−5
Main canal
A
B
Depth (m)
−1.10
A
B
Sluice gate
Engineered Coasts, Figure 1 Examples of engineered coasts: (a) the polder system (modified from Stive and Waterman, 2002); (b)
the port of Genoa: note the protected natural harbor and the engineered structures (screenshot used by permission. Copyright@Esri.
ArcGIS Data Providers); (c) Kojima, Japan; ~5 ha in size (from Walker, 2012); (d) Palm Jumeirah, a 5.72
2 km artificial residential and
recreational island in Dubai (USGS/NASA Landsat).
228
ENGINEERED COASTS