Coupling watershed - coast systems to study evolutionary trends: A review

This article proposes a review of the researches dealing with the interaction between watersheds and coastal areas. Watersheds and coasts were traditionally regarded as two separate areas with a contact point in which the output of the watershed constitutes the input of the coastal area. However, the open literature of the last two decades recognized the importance of adopting a holistic perspective in the analysis of these two systems. Such a point of view is so consolidated that nowadays the whole body is designated as the “Watershed-Coast continuum” (WCC). Despite the fact that this is a consolidated and recognized concept, there are still limited holistic observations. In this review article, we summarize the main findings of the researches on the WCC. Specifically, we provide a state-of-the-art of the researches focusing on the identification of morphological evolutionary trends that are relevant to civil engineering applications by distinguishing three kinds of works: monitoring studies; modelling studies; and monitoring of anthropogenic actions. This article emphasizes the need of developing adequate methodologies for describing the WCC dynamics and suggests planning future monitoring activities by adopting a global perspective