Pikelj, K., and Juračić, M., 2013. Eastern Adriatic coast (EAC): Geomorphology and coastal vulnerability of a karstic coast.

Coastal zones are one of the most rapidly changing environments on the global scale, mainly caused by anthropogenic activities (industry, urbanization, tourism, and food production). Coastal erosion is primarily a natural process, although human-induced coastal changes are becoming more and more present and are significant factors associated with the loss of beach capacity. The eastern Adriatic coast (EAC) is one of the most rapidly growing tourist markets within the Mediterranean, along which beaches still represent a leading component of the tourism resource. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of natural geomorphologic features of the EAC as a starting point for further investigation and sustainable management of the coastal zone. The EAC is generally steep and rocky, mostly built up of karstified carbonates, and characterized, thus, by a variety of drowned karstic forms. Beaches in carbonates are mostly small, narrow, and scattered pocket gravel beaches. Coasts developed in the flysch and associated rocks are characterized by longer sandy and gravel beaches. The total beach length along the EAC presumably does not exceed 5%, and the small proportion of the beach length in relation to the rest of the EAC emphasizes their value in the tourist valorization, indicating the need for protection and sustainable management. Due to their geomorphologic diversities, fragmentation, different orientation, length, and sediment composition and budget, each beach should be studied separately and on a small scale. Detailed information on beach profiles, the nearshore geomorphology, and the beach processes needed to plan a sustainable coastal development is still mostly missing.