Morphology of the salient of tuerredda beach (Sardinia, Italy) and hydrodynamic along the shoreline

On sandy shores, offshore obstacles create wider beaches, termed salients and tombolos, due to sediment deposition in their lee. The Authors quantified the shape and dimensions of salients formed in the lee of a natural reef and island in south Sardinia (Italy) and found that morphological results were in good agreement with previous investigations through aerial photographs of the coastlines of south eastern Australia and new Zeeland. This paper presents some preliminary results on the salient morphology and complex hydrodynamic behaviour near an island. The beach investigated in this work, known as the Tuerredda beach, is located in the south coast of Sardinia, the shoreline being characterised in the central part by a salient-shape due to the homonymous island. It is expected that the shoreline would be complex in its evolution over time due to the high variability of wave-induced currents and the random instability of the near natural mouth of a seasonally ephemeral stream.