Central East Region

Abstract

The central east region includes the southeast Queensland coast and sand islands and the northern NSW coast, a total coastline of 1260 km. This is a humid sub-tropical coast with several moderate-sized rivers and many streams draining from the Eastern Highlands to the coast, some building deltas, while most flow to estuaries. Coastal sediments are quartz-rich throughout. The coast is exposed to persistent moderate to occasional high southerly swell which drives a major northerly longshore transport system that extends all the way to Fraser Island and beyond. The transport is however interrupted by numerous headlands and inlets/estuaries including some massive tidal deltas. Wave-dominated sandy beaches occupy 80% of the coast, the beaches backed by the massive sand islands in the north, while there is limited barrier development in northern NSW. This chapter examines the nature of the beaches, barriers and sediment transport within a sediment compartment framework.