A curse can be a great misfortune, a severe life burden or, and I like this one, a constant source of trouble. So how may the wonderful discipline of geomorphology cause trouble? Here I am not referring to any individual geomorphologist—heaven forbid! It is what we know about how landforms have evolved and are changing that places these cursed burdens on society.
Here I will comment on curses arising from landform development and processes at two vastly different time scales, one very ancient, the other related to more contemporary processes.
There is a long tradition in geomorphic research involving studies of the evolution of the large scale features such as mountains, river basins, depositional plains and ocean gulfs. These demonstrate how the history of the Earth’s landscapes and waterways created conditions that impact on the functioning of human activities. In certain geopolitical circumstances these conditions induce constraints on economic systems in the delivery of cost-effective and safe movement of goods and services.
Plate tectonics and other earth processes have formed narrow land areas that divide continents. The construction of the Suez and Panama canals are examples where aspirations to achieve ship passage between seas required enormous investments to overcome the legacy of these geomorphic obstacles. But natural narrow passages through the Strait of Hormuz, and the Red Sea through Bab al-Mandab, now display choke points that strangle the global economy to different degrees. The Strait of Gibraltar and Strait of Malacca are waterways where similar crises may one day emerge. Laws of the Sea demand these waterways be access free. Yet demands from adjoining countries for passage payment could soon generate more economic as well as political stress. The inherited geomorphology of these narrow transport passageways has a lot to answer for!
Rivers also hold inheritance that every now and then flares up to create burdens and misfortune. Critical to their use as transport waterways is the depth of a thalweg or lowest point in the channel in relation to the ideal water level for navigation. In Europe at the moment the Danube or the Rhine are dropping to critical threshold levels impeding the passage of barges (“Next critical oil waterway to close”, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 August 2026, discusses the case of the Rhine). Current low rainfall conditions reduces river flow. But channel morphology also plays a part where the bed of the river for various reasons has not been scoured deep enough. The result is nasty choke points – some quite rocky. Other great transport rivers like the Mississippi are not as affected as these great rivers in Europe. The glacial history of the region may be a factor in these channels not having consistently deep thalwegs. Meanwhile many countries are forced to find expensive alternatives to transport cargoes.
Turning now to another curse, and at a much smaller scale, to what I am calling the “Curse of Torrens Title”. Private property in Australia is governed by two land title systems. In coastal areas there is “old title” which is ambulatory and defined at by High Water Mark. The other is Torrens Title where the owner of property owns the land demarcated by “right-line boundaries”. These boundaries are formally registered. They are seen as legally robust with the landowner paying rates on that land. Here I will focus on lands defined by Torrens Title noting there is considerable literature on the broader issue of the impact of the sea on property rights (e.g. A. Gordon, 2009, “Canute’s dilemma—adapting to the forces of Nature”. Proceedings 19th Australasian Conference on Coastal and Ocean Engineering, Wellington, New Zealand; A, Gordon, 2001, “Highwater mark –the boundary of ignorance”, Proceedings 11th NSW Coastal Management Conference, Newcastle, November 2001; J. Corkill, 2021, “Will property rights ‘trump’ public rights to use coastal land under climate change conditions”. PhD Thesis University of Wollongong Thesis Collection).
The problem arises when land titles are granted on coastal lands subjected to the forces of the sea. Fluctuations in shoreline position involving the periodic cut and later fill of foredunes commonly impacts on land covered by Torrens Title. In some states shack owners that occupied leasehold land were allowed conversion to freehold and hence fixed boundaries. There are also situations where the fixed landward boundary of Crown reserves is now being breached by shoreline recession exposing freehold land with fixed boundaries to erosion.
Property owners seek to protect their land from being lost to the sea. Time and time again we have seen attempts both legal and illegal to secure their boundaries. This is not just an Australian problem as I have previously discussed (B.Thom, 2020, Future challenges in beach management as contested spaces. Chapter 29 in D. Jackson and A. Short eds., Sandy Beach Morphodynamics, Elsevier).
Increasingly there are cases where owners seek to exercise what they see as a “right” to protect their land with hard seawalls. Here the curse may occur because where this may be successful there is the potential for misfortune to befall the public due to loss of beach and adverse impacts on adjoining land impacts. Now the owner’s action can be deemed legal as it is on their property and conditions of approval may be granted that will ostensibly mitigate impacts. According to a recent study by Smith et al., (2026, “Beach law in the Anthropocene”. Ocean & Coastal Management, 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2026.108213), laws relating to the coast are generally dominated by a focus on the protection of private property rights and economic interests over that of environmental and Indigenous values.
The trouble is that fixed boundaries increasingly will extend below MHW as a result of shoreline recession. Conflicts arise as to whether the public can use that space. Customary use of beach space may be jeopardised by land owners exercising rights not just to protect but also to secure private use of the beach space. Geomorphic processes at work are imposing a conflict zone. Climate change induces further pressure on those seeking solutions to such conflicts. Public good interests can be met by sand nourishment programs, or following the arguments of Corkill, by declaring land that falls below MHW to be public land. Pathways to secure such actions while still securing the defence of private land are going to become more expensive and politically fraught in future. Again it is geomorphology that is driving the burden on society given that land use history has permitted private ownership in vulnerable places. A curse not easily overcome!
Bruce Thom
Words by Prof Bruce Thom. Please respect the author’s thoughts and reference appropriately: (c) ACS, 2026. For correspondence about this blog post please email admin@australiancoastalsociety.org.au
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