Assessment shoreline changes of El Alamein and Marina coastal area, northwestern coast of Egypt

Abstract

New EL Alamein city (NAC) is located on the northwestern coast of Egypt 110 km western of Alexandria and just west of Marina resort. The city layout includes internal artificial lagoons circulated by jetties’ inlets connected to the Mediterranean Sea. Intermediate and multigrade groynes have been proposed to reduce intermediate and downdrift expected erosion. Shoreline erosion at the downdrift area of coastal jetties and sedimentation at lagoons inlets are considered critical issues which shall be balanced and modeled. Marina resort lagoons and protections are considered a prototype for NAC coastal structures and inlets. For Marina resort lagoons case study, shoreline changes have been digitized from Google Earth historical images and field measurements data between 1988 and 2021 by using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software. Cutting natural longshore sediment deposits by Marina jetties has significantly eroded the downdrift area eastern of Marina border. Most of Marina downdrift area was under accretion(up to + 10 m/year) and little erosion areas before the protection work from 1985 to 1988 and with an average rate of −1.00 m / year from 1988 to 2001 during the construction of the jetties and groynes and with an average rate of −1.20 m/ year after the construction stages between 2005 and 2018. High rates of erosion with an average rate of −4.30 m/year were identified between 2019 and 2021 with the start of NAC coastal proposed structures. This research aims to assess the historical and current situation of NAC shoreline changes and use the similar near project of Marina resort to identify and mitigate the side effects of the proposed protection works of New EL Alamein City.

Keywords

• New EL Alamein city (NAC)
• Marina
• Shoreline changes
• DSAS
• Geological coastal classification
• Submerged ridges