Australian Dunes Retreating From Ocean at Alarming Rate

Sand dunes lining Australia’s longest beach are marching inland the width of a tennis court each year, due to rapid erosion triggered by the heightened lapping of the Southern Ocean. Measurements painstakingly gathered by Flinders University scientists reveal a central section of shoreline along South Australia’s Younghusband Peninsula is disappearing at a rate of 3.3 metres annually. More alarming, sand exposed to the wind as the beach is carved open is retreating from the waves at 10 metres per year. In its path is the iconic Coorong. Some 180 kilometres southwest of Adelaide, the Ramsar-listed wetlands extend to the mouth of the mighty Murray River. On the land of the Ngarrindjeri people, they were the setting for Australia’s much-loved children’s story, Storm Boy. ...