CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Berube, D.; and McLean, B.
Date : 2004.
Title : Implication of coastal processes in recent archaeological discoveries at Youghall Beach Park, on the northeast coast of New Brunswick.
Publication : 2004 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers. Tuesday, May 25 – Saturday, May 29, 2004. Jointly organised by Université de Moncton and Mount Allison University. Moncton, New Brunswick.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
Youghall Beach Park is located at the tip of a bay-mouth spit and characterized by a wide sandy beach and exotic forested dunes. Over the past years, beach combers have found in this park a variety of Native and European artifacts from the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries; while last summer, archaeologists have found under the park's dunes a former ground surface occupied by the Natives and Europeans for at least a few hundred years. From a coastal geomorphology standpoint, Youghall's bay-mouth spit forms the terminal end of a littoral drift cell and is dominated by sand deposition processes; which are favorable conditions to the long-term preservation of artifacts. Our analysis of old coastal maps has confirmed that, despite the rapid sea-level rise in the region (20-40 cm/century), this spit has been stable over the past two centuries. On the other hand, our analysis of recent aerial photos has showed that a portion of the spit, located on the down drift side of a groin field, has been greatly affected by coastal erosion processes over the past three decades. The recent discovery of a large number of artifacts by beach combers has been directly associated with this phase of rapid coastline retreat.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology