Relationships between coastal processes and properties of the nearshore sea bed dynamic layer

The paper discusses the notion of a layer of sandy sediments overlying a substratum of cohesive deposits in the coastal zone. This layer of sand is generally more mobile and is therefore conventionally referred to as the dynamic layer. Its parameters are important to coastal lithodynamic and morphodynamic processes caused by waves and currents. On the other hand, the dynamic layer is formed by nearshore hydrodynamic impact. The variability of the features of the dynamic layer on the southern Baltic dune and cliff shores in Poland is analysed on the basis of selected geological data supported by local seismo-acoustic field investigations. It appears that the conventional notion of the dynamic layer makes sense only in specific geomorphologic conditions. In such cases, mostly related to cliff shores, theoretical modelling of sediment transport should take the properties of the dynamic layer into account.