Impact of Estuarine Breakwaters on Adjacent Shorelines at Muthalapozhy Harbour in Kerala

A shoreline is a boundary between the land and the ocean, is prone to periodic changes on account of various dynamic factors such as wave characteristics, coastal orientation, currents, and bathymetry. As a result, shoreline location varies continuously with respect to time. Shoreline change is the direct consequence of coastal erosion and accretion, along with the effect of nearshore currents. Shorelines on both sides of Muthalapozhy tidal inlet, which is located along Kerala coast in India, was modified following the construction of breakwaters for developing a fishery harbour. The fishing harbour work was initiated in 2002. Severe erosion at the immediate north of the north breakwater and choking of harbour mouth due to spit formation was observed. The construction of modified breakwaters began in 2013, after resolving the deficiencies in the first phase. An attempt to study the shoreline oscillations at Muthalapozhy harbour using numerical approach is reported in this paper