title: Assessing shelf aggregate environmental compatibility and suitability for beach nourishment: a case study for Tuscany (Italy).
abstract: Beach nourishment practices are a key aspect in coastal management plans for stakeholders and communities. Stemming from a concrete case-study (Tuscany), this research analyzes: (i) principal problems of current law regulating dredging, (ii) gaps in technical guidelines, (iii) advantages of integrated approaches to the decision-making process, (iv) possible applicable nourishment options and their costs and benefits. Our results show that sand compatibility is driven mainly by grain-size stability due to the occurrence of lower pollution levels in off-shore deposits than in threatened beaches, thus current laws and guidelines should be improved to fill the evident gap in the evaluation process and to include a more complete approach to data evaluation and an integrated approach to ecotoxicity evaluation, which is relevant in cases of geochemical anomalies. The cost-benefit analysis performed indicates that only dredging intended to manage more than 1 million m(3) of aggregates would represent a real advantage for local communities.
authors: CIBM - Center of Marine Biology and Applied Ecology "G. Bacci", Viale N. Sauro 4, Livorno, Italy.
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Bigongiari
authors: Region of Tuscany - D.G. for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change - Section for the Protection and Value Enhancement of Marine and Coastal Environments, via di Novoli, 26, 50127 Firenze, Italy.
authors: Luigi E
authors: LE
authors: Cipriani
authors: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Borgo Albizi 28, 50122 Firenze, Italy.
authors: Enzo
authors: E
authors: Pranzini
authors: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of the Salento, SP Lecce-Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. Electronic address: monia.renzi@virgilio.it.
authors: Monia
authors: M
authors: Renzi
authors: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Borgo Albizi 28, 50122 Firenze, Italy.
authors: Giovanni
authors: G
authors: Vitale
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D007558:Italy; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Beach nourishment; Dry beach; Nearshore; Pollution; Sand compatibility