Cross shore profile change of Desaru Beach

Abstract

Coastal erosion has attracted serious attention from the government of Malaysia. The changes in land use along the east coast of Johor due to rapid development and mining activities have caused short and long term effects on shoreline evolution. This study analyse the beach profiles of Desaru beach, Johor. For the purpose of this study, the beach profiles were measured using Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK-GPS) and the tide gauge was also been installed. The beach profiles data were then converted into x-y coordinate to show accretion and erosion on the profiles. Early measurement shows that the beach was undergoing an accretional phase. These profiles, however, became linear due to convectional thunderstorm during inter-monsoon. After a storm, the berm on the foreshore has been cut away because of the influence of northeast monsoon. Sediment loss and gain are greatest during spring tide in mid November and during neap tide in the end of September respectively. The sediment loss from the beach were greater than the sediment added to the beach although the loss of sediment occurred from the chainage of 15 m to 45 m compared to the sediment added from the chainage of 15 m to 55 m. As a conclusion, the beach is severely eroded during northeast monsoon