Fractal analysis of shoreline patterns for crenulate-bay beaches, Southern China

Shoreline patterns of 34 crenulate-bay beaches in Southern China were investigated. The differentiated criteria for log-spiral shoreline curves offered by Silvester (Am. Soc. Civ. Eng. Proc. 96 (1970) 275; Coastal Engineering, Elsevier, Amsterdam (1974) 338) and Hsu et al. (J. Waterw. Port Coast. Eng. 115 (1989) 285) were used to determine the equilibrium morphology of each beach. Results show that the discriminated principles of the equilibrium log-spiral curve were not suitable for all the beaches. Based on the theory of the log-spiral stable curve and beach morphology and the dynamic action setting in Southern China, fractal analysis was adopted to classify the patterns in the shorelines. It shows that shorelines include three modes: dynamic balance of accretion, static equilibrium and the dynamic balance of erosion.