Since most of the coast lines of Japanese Islands are faced on the open sea and are always attacked by severe waves, beach erosion is one of serious problems in the coastal engineering field. Although Japan has all types of coastal land-forms except the glacial shoreline, remarkable recessions of coast line have been observed at sea cliffs and sandy beaches. The recession of sea cliffs has been found at several districts in Japan since old times. But, beach erosion has become increasingly severe since the early 1950's. The main causes of beach erosion are the reduction in sediment supply from rivers and the interception of the longshore paths of sediment. The former is caused by the river improvement works and by the construction of dams and debris barriers or Sabo works. The later is caused by the coastal structures, such as jetties, groins, breakwaters, and flood-control outlets. In addition a new type of beach erosion has been observed at the coast where coast protection works such as seawalls and bulkheads exist. The beach erosion defence works are being executed at more than 300 sites in Japan. Considerable number of the works were commenced in the 1960's.
Erosion and sediment supply of sea cliffs of todos santos bay, baja california, from 1970 to 1991