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Beach - a hypothesis

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Jimbo:
A distinguished local who cannot be named said to me that he/she thought that the extreme narrowing of the beach at the Havana/Mango point was a result of construction work there - extensions to Mango and Delfino Blu.

I could not see how this could happen, but many of us remember the wide beach there, the football pitch below Havana, even the cabana on the beach. The beach is not (to my recollection) significantly narrower anywhere else, and was almost visibly widening at the other ends this autumn.

So I've been pondering this. Why would the tides attack this sector more than the others? Variations in the tidal drift could perhaps do it, and that was the theory presented to me. But we would expect those to be random and on average cause a small coming and going. What we are seeing is consistent erosion in one "hot spot." What mechanism could consistently produce this effect?

The beach, as we all know, at Agios Stefanos is very flat, with a low tidal range. Low points on the land side of the beach will be more vulnerable to inundation.  Even a 0.5 centimeter lowering of a region could cause more aggressive tidal influx and hence more erosion.

Concrete weighs a lot. The geology there is sandstone. I'm not a geologist, but I can imagine that sandstone may be subject to compression. Is it possible that several tons of concrete close to the beach could be lowering the beach level just enough to permit attack?

If anybody knows a geologist or structural engineer, please pose this question. Meanwhile, I will send it to New Scientist - that's a free way of getting expert advice.

Should this theory be correct, that sector of the beach will not recover. It may be rubbish, of course. But there has to be a rational explanation.

Gillywoo:
Sounds very plausible to me!

We stood on the steps above the Havana Bar, watching the waves rolling in and out.

Large rocks have now been placed on the sand in this area - I think they were placed there last winter.

When you watched the waves, as they hit the rocks they became distorted and ebbed at an angle instead of flowing back and forth. So no doubt the sand below was being pulled away in a different direction to the rest of the beach.

I wonder if this may also be an added reason?

Lesley:
Or another subject is the new harbour responsible??????

Jimbo:
I've hear the "new harbour" argument, but I don't see how that could affect the small zone in front of Havana/Mango. It would be interesting to hear a reasoned analysis.

abbo:
hmm, i've stood there too a few times this year mulling over it. the thing that fascinates me is the drop in height over, say, 5 years. the Havana was never that "high" then. The football pitch was maybe 2 feet up, its dropped 5/6 feet.

There has to be a cause, the building work seems a logical cause given the pinpoint area, but why is bemusing. Logically you'd think any erosion would be at the Manthos end, but that end was in good nick this year.

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