Hourly to daily-scale microtopographic fluctuations of supratidal sandstone

Abstract

A traversing micro-erosion meter (TMEM) was used to measure short-term microtopographic changes on a supratidal rock surface at Marengo, Australia. In order to describe the characteristics of rock surface behaviour at different temporal scales, the TMEM site was monitored at 2-hourly, daily and multiday (3.5 days) periods. The rock surface was highly dynamic at 2-hourly scale, repeatedly falling and rising by up to 0.644 mm. Two-hourly surface change was also characterised by spatial heterogeneity, with contraction and expansion occurring concurrently at centimetre scale across the rock surface. Two-hourly microtopographic change was linked to the microclimate with significant relationships ..