Identification and Morphological Classification of Coastal Zones South ofthe Caspian Sea Using Shepard Classification Method (Case Study: fromNowshahr to Babolsar)

Beaches fringe about 40 per cent of the world’s coastline, and generally consist of unconsolidated deposits of sand and gravel on the shore. More than half the world’s population lives in coastal regions, and many people visit the coast frequently. Beaches have also formed along the fringes of coastal lowlands. In Iran, the river and coastal systems are one of the most important factors in the location of cities, network connections, commerce, tourism, agriculture and areas of industrial development and have high population density and have high population density. Beach systems deal with the interactions between beaches and the processes (waves, currents, tides and winds) that work on them. Case Study at coordinates of geographical longitude of 51, 30, and 00 up to east 52, 45 and 00 and geographical latitude 36, 18, and 55 up to north 36, 44, and 00 with an area of 2068.57 square kilometers in North of Mazandaran Province is located. The main purpose of this paper is to the Identification and morphological classification coastal zones used Shepard Classification method, from Nowshahr to Babolsar. Thus, topographic maps and geology, satellite imagery and geographical information system software in Arc GIS and several field visits from landforms, has been used. The main purpose of this research is to morphological classification of coastal zones from Nowshahr to Babolsar using Shepard classification method. This research is based on the satellite imagery (Landsat, sensors: TM & ETM+, IRS), field observations geological and topographic maps and GIS information. Results of this study, show that the most dominate part of region is covered by Alluvial Plain (with: 42.8%), Pediplain (or Pediment) (with: 16.7%), Lowlands (11.85%), & Flood Plain (9/6%).