The impact of Klaipeda Port entrance channel dredging on the dynamics of coastal zone, Lithuania

Dredging entrance channels to ports on open littoral drift seashores often causes major morphological changes to the shoreline. This study aims to assess the impact of dredging the Port of Klaipėda's entrance channel and the construction of the jetties on the coastal zone. Based on an analysis of cartographic material collected between 1835 and 2017, and on field data (bathymetric surveys and cross-shore profile levelling), changes to the coastal zone in the area nearest to the port were evaluated. The dominant longshore sediment transport on the Lithuanian nearshore runs from south to north. Thus, based on established patterns, intensive accretion could have been expected to take place on the southern side of the port jetties and erosion on their northern side. However, in the case of the Port of Klaipėda, in the area nearest to the port on the updrift side of the port jetties, where accretion would have been expected to take place, the nearshore depth increased throughout the 20th century (when the length and configuration of the jetties did not change). The shoreline shifted landward instead of moving further out to sea. The present study shows that the intensive dredging of the entrance channel caused nearshore and shore erosion on the updrift side of the port jetties, even while a sufficient sediment load was being transported by the longshore drift.