Beaches & crazy coastal constructions

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Oh, how I like to be beside the seaside; how I like to be beside the sea ......

Outer Banks, North Carolina, May 2022.

Abstract: The following article is about people - ignorant human beings - who have constructed things in coastal areas where they should not be constructed.

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Stupid humans

Erosion, Outer Banks

The animal world is being left out here as we talk about crazy humans who building things in coastal areas subject to some of the following:

• Flooding inundation and erosion by the ocean.
• Flooding inundation and erosion by water by overflowing Rivers.

In other words, so they're subject to the NATURAL destruction of property by Mother Nature; to the impact of waves, liquefaction of soil, and the undermining of foundations and barriers meant to protect them from the powerful forces which they are often ignorant of or choose to believe that they are impervious to. The energy present in the flow of water, whether oceanic, stream based or falling from the sky, is often extremely powerful, especially in eroding earth; and for places physically located adjacent to such flow, or otherwise exposed to it, there is never enough protection provided by humanity. Concrete walls can be undermined or directly battered, caused cracking and eventual destruction; sand and rock infill is likewise subject to simple erosion by energised water. All of this gives rise to the destruction of artifical constructions. The natural environment has often developed means of dealing with such energetic environments, such as the construction of sponge-like sand dunes and wetlands which soak up the water and energy and return to their normal form - completely or partially - when the inundation subsides and disappears, allowing the environment to dry out and recover.

Why do people make such stupid decisions to live in high energy coastal zones? There is one reason: The View. Of course, such zones are inherently dangerous, always eroding, and in many cases catastrophically rather than very slowly and almost imperceptibly over time. Land that is coastal has a view towards the ocean and is always at a premium when it comes to residential lots. Why is that? Because people like looking out towards the ocean; they like to have an uninterrupted view of the world around them, and an ocean view is infinite, unlike a wall or other human-made construction. To have a view of the ocean is even more powerful because it is dynamic, ever-changing, possessing a life of its own. It is like having a massive television or projection screen in your window. This ever-changing view of nature can be both meditative and exciting. But that is part of the problem, because that active nature also brings with it danger and destruction.

The present writer, as a geologist, is very much aware of the dynamics of the Earth. Not only when it relates to volcanoes and continental drift, and And and earthquakes and movements like that, which are obvious. Obvious. Um, Um, manifestations of the energy of the Earth. As geologists are, mainly dealing with rocks. With the Earth, I'm not necessarily dealing with hydrology Hydrographics, the water. The sky above the, the weather. So when we look at the Earth in totality, we've got a highly energetic environment. Whether it's the inner earth core whether it's the, the the upper mantle, the the crust, the, which is when we're dealing with geological time, the fact that the Earth Is supposedly about 4.6 billion years old. So we're mainly dealing there with the physical aspects of the Earth, but above the, that ground level. We? Have what's on top of the Earth? We have both the atmosphere, which includes weather. And that, whether generates water, generates rain generates wind, And that results in impacting upon the earth below. And that results in erosion. So, not only do we have the, the impact of the Earth. Which gives rise to earthquakes volcanoes tectonic, movements things like that. We also have. The atmosphere above impacting upon that Earth in an energetic way. So if you want to build a house, if you want to live in that house for a long time, if you want to feel secure in that house, The safest thing is to Build away from. Minimize the impact of energetic environments. You don't build on the coast, which is this this Connecting Point between the energy of the ocean. Or or by rivers, or by Creeks where you've got the impact of water of energetic environments there. You don't necessarily build in high. Highly um energetic. Seismic areas. Such as where plates meet. So we have this Famous, San Andreas falls on the west coast of America around San Francisco and that and we know the impact of that when there's massive earthquakes Impacting upon cities, you have as a result of that you have buildings, This Joy buildings, collapsing, fires created electricity All this sort of um, the vastness So people when they're deciding, where they want to build their house, their home, their place of safety, and residence. The first thing they should do is not just look at the house itself or the neighborhood or anything like that is. Look at the Earth around them. How safe is this place? Now, if this place is built, On the coast. Or next to a river or Creek. Or on a fault line, where there has been Um, Regular earthquakes. So if it's an obvious Place such as next to a creek, next to a river next to the ocean, first thing is, okay. This is going to be subject to. Flooding. To inundation through through the energy of high energy of water. That could destroy the property. If we move away from those areas and we look towards, okay, well, what else? What else do we be? Need to be aware of? Well, we need to be aware of the dirt. The the earth below again? Now, if If we're going to build on an area where a creek, Has been filled in with dirt and Phil from an industrial process such as a coal, mine or steel works or A Rubbish Tip or whatever. Uranium mine, for example. If we're going to build on Phil, That's going to be. Subject to movement, for example, if there's an earthquake that fill can just liquify. And if you've got your house on top of a liquefied, massive, Of dirt, and, and Industrial, refu And and, and rock, and all this sort of stuff. That's just liquified, almost you're in big trouble. So that's the second thing. Look at the land. You build on, ideally, you're going to find land. That's Hasn't had been subject to any really? Changes over geological time apart from. Flowing the last 100 or a couple hundred years so it's a build on Solid Rock in like say in other words, it's It's not, it hasn't liquefied. It's not part of Phil, it's not loose material. And no matter how, how deep down, you might think Concrete peers. If it. If they're going to, Lose liquefiable material, Earth. You're in big trouble. Now, you might see, you might think. Oh, this is what are you talking about, Michael. This is everyone is sensible. They, they know what's going on. Well, no, they're not sensible and we're seeing increasing. As Time increases, especially in the Western World, people are doing stupid things, they're building houses in stupid places. I mean, we can look at the East Coast of Australia in areas such as war on the North Coast. And all along the coast actually. So I've missed South Wales. People have built on top of sand. Dunes on top of wetlands, coastal wetlands and Coastal sand dunes. Now. That's a double whammy because not only are you Close to the ocean and therefore subject during none, but you've also built on Liquefiable Earth material, a sand dune is not Solid Rock. It's going to be the first thing to erode is going to be the first thing to soak up water and therefore become liquefied. And so um it's just not a good place to build, it might also be subject to. It might be built on Solid Rock next to the ocean. But that, that Solid Rock could be a layer cake of various sedimentary rocks. And if at the bottom, you've got a soft sediment such as a A a Shale or a, um, coal. That's going to erode. And if that bottom layer re roads, the whole top layer will just collapse. And if you're on that top layer of solid rock, you're going to come down with all those other rocks. You know, you're going to be subject to um, To to slippage. And the ilaw area of of New, South Wales, south of Sydney. Especially the Northern or is very much subject to slippage. Mass slippage. Next to the iris Garden. So you've got this escaping which is like a big Sandstone layer cake. And you've got it next to the ocean and what's happened is The further north, you go. The further, the closer, the actual layer cake phase is towards the ocean as you go. South, it kind of Triangulates. So the actual face of the escarpment of this big layer cake exposed Moves a bit Westerly. But in that northern part, you've got The layer cake where it's eroded. It's it's it's it's got this. Um, angled. Almost sort of 45 or higher degree. Um, Area of Material that has fallen off the layer cake that has been eroded and so it's all this loose gravel and And loose material. And if you're building on that, And that loose material is basically in the process of eroding away into the ocean. If you build upon that. That erosion, that, that, that material it's going to be if there's heavy rainfalls Etc, that's going to become liquid item. You know what happens. Then it Becomes liquefied on your foundations that will that and there's weight upon it. And There's um and it's an energy environment such as heavy rain or Creeks nearby that are um, flowing through it. You're in big trouble. You're going to, you might be You know, 50 m away from that Creek, but the water, the the, the, the material you've built your house on might be liquefied and it's just going to Move start moving towards that Creek and that that torrent of water, that's Eroding, that's carrying all this. Um, slipped material and broken up material away. So, People are doing stupid things, they're building in places where they should never do it, who is seen in America, in the, in the banks in the Greater Banks of to the north of New York, or Washington, and Massachusetts and that Where, People have built. The ocean off there has a bit of a Low depth. Along the coast. So people have Built out into the beach. They've got pierced down into the sand. To accommodate inundation. But what's happen? If they don't realize that all that, Land beneath them is becomes liquefied with all this water and eventually. Eventually. Those peers will just collapse and the house will collapse. And it'll, it'll be nothing. Because they haven't built on Solid Rock. 9:22 am I haven't they've built too close to the high energy environment. And every year it's subject to erosion, The the lunacy of it was reflected recently when a property was put up for sale at Malibu on the east west coast of Of the United States in California. Now, this This um, site was on the Seaside of a road. So there was a cliff Near the ocean level, there was a road and then Between the road. And the ocean, there was a little Slither of land and people had built houses upon their And during the recent Palisades fires, The houses had been burnt down and the property was being offered for sale for 2 to 2 million dollars. And when you looked at the property, you saw that the ocean was just a butting against The road. So the, the actual land for sale was just part of a A very small Slither of beachfront beach land. It's hardly any sand. And just the remains of of the house. So that was an obvious crazy place to build.

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Last updated: 3 December 2025

Michael Organ, Australia