Ensemble data assimilation methods for estimating fault slip and future earthquake occurrences

In this dissertation, I explore ensemble data assimilation methods to enhance our capability to forecast earthquakes and slow slip events, focusing on the critical challenge posed by limited information on the current stress state of faults. <br/>At the outset, the research acknowledges the inherent limitations in our current understanding of...

Anthropogenic effects on the hydro-morphological development of turbid estuaries

Estuarine sediment dynamics involves estuarine hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and morphology, and strongly influence ecosystem dynamics and sustainability. In the current geological epoch, referred to as the Anthropocene, human activities are exerting increasing impacts on the environment on all scales, changing hydrodynamics, sediment...

The Influence of Infragravity Waves on Overtopping at Coastal Structures with Shallow Foreshores

Coastal communities across the globe are often protected by structures, such as seawalls, levees or dikes, which allow only a safe volume of water to pass over or “overtop” them due to wave action during storms. The area seaward of these structures is often characterised by shallow, gently sloping beds referred to as foreshores.<br/>As storm...

Alluvial Stratigraphic Response to Astronomical Climate Change: Numerical modelling and outcrop study in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA

Alluvial stratigraphy is influenced by both allogenic and autogenic factors, which are difficult to be distinguished from each other because they operate at overlapping spatial and temporal scales. Moreover, it remains uncertain whether autogenic dynamics can result in sedimentary cyclicity that resembles allogenically-driven stratigraphic...

On the redistribution and sorting of sand at nourishments: Field evidence and modelling of transport processes and bed composition change

Increasingly large sand nourishments are used for the maintenance of sandy coasts around the world. There is, however, still very limited understanding of their behaviour (i.e. redistribution) and effects on the marine environment. This PhD thesis explores the morphological reshaping of shoreface nourishments (i.e. long bunds of sand placed at...