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Coastlines of the Baltic Sea – Zones of Competition Between Geological Processes and a Changing Climate: Examples from the Southern Baltic

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Book cover The Baltic Sea Basin

Part of the book series: Central and Eastern European Development Studies (CEEDES) ((CEEDES))

Abstract

Relative sea level change is, besides the geological buildup and hydrographic parameters, the main controlling factor in shaping the coastlines on the centennial timescale and beyond. Vertical displacement of the earth’s crust and eustasy serve as main components driving the relative sea level (RSL) change during the Quaternary. Whereas the eustatic change mirrors mainly climatic factors, the vertical displacement of the earth’s crust has to be regarded in former glaciated areas as a result of glacio-isostatic adjustment superimposed by the regional tectonic regime or land subsidence due to local factors. A simple model is applied to reconstruct the palaeogeographic development of a coastal area and to generate future projections as coastline scenarios. For the hindcast relative sea level curves have to be compared with recent digital elevation models. For future projections data of vertical crustal displacement received from gauge measurements and eustatic changes based on climate scenarios have to be superimposed. The model has been applied to the Baltic Basin, considered as a natural laboratory for coastal research as it is extending from the uplifting Fennoscandian Shield to the subsiding southern Baltic lowlands. Subsidence, climatically driven sea level rise, and meteorologically induced coastal flooding provoke permanent coastal retreat at the southern sinking coasts. Predictions of coastal hazards are made with the model by using neotectonical data and long-term sea level change data superimposed with extreme sea level data measured during the storm surge in November 1872.

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Acknowledgement

The research has been conducted within the frame of the project SINCOS (www.sincos.org) funded by the German Research Foundation. The authors express thanks for the support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, D-18119, Rostock, Germany

    Jan Harff & Michael Meyer

  2. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, University of Szczecin, PL-70-383, Szczecin, Poland

    Jan Harff

  3. Institute for Environmental Engineering, University Rostock, 18057, Rostock, Germany

    Michael Meyer

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  1. Jan Harff
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Correspondence to Jan Harff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Ostseeforschung Warnemünde, Universität Rostock, Seestr. 15, Rostock, 18119, Mecklenburg-Vorpomm., Germany

    Jan Harff

  2. Dept. Geology, University of Lund, Sölvegatan 13, Lund, 223 62, Sweden

    Svante Björck

  3. Wirtschaft und Technologie, Bundesministerium für, Scharnhorststr. 34-37, Berlin, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Peer Hoth

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Harff, J., Meyer, M. (2011). Coastlines of the Baltic Sea – Zones of Competition Between Geological Processes and a Changing Climate: Examples from the Southern Baltic. In: Harff, J., Björck, S., Hoth, P. (eds) The Baltic Sea Basin. Central and Eastern European Development Studies (CEEDES). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17220-5_7

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