The fight against shoreline erosion along the coast of the second marine station of Wimereux (France), 1899-1942

The second marine station in Wimereux, called the Alfred Giard Zoological Station, was built at the Pointe-aux-Oies, between Wimereux and Ambleteuse (North of France), in 1899. The construction was carried out in a dune field, very close to the sea. Attached to the Sorbonne University (Paris), the station was in operation for almost 40 years, under the direction of Alfred Giard, then after his death in 1908, under the direction of Maurice Caullery. As the latter explains in his memoirs, very quickly it was necessary to build a dike to protect the building from marine erosion. Throughout the beginning of the XXth century the laboratory developed, with the construction of extensions to the building, an access ramp for a boat, and several protective dikes, including one, built by Maurice Lonquéty, who left the river mouth of the Slack at Ambleteuse 4 km North, and joined the station. In 1942 the station was destroyed by the German army.

Using archives, historical sources and old photographs, we retrace the history of this station and its fight agains marine shoreline erosion. Old airborne photographs allow the position of the station to be precisely located for the first time on modern maps, showing that it was located on what is now the foreshore, due to coastal erosion at this location. Stakes in the sand, pieces of dykes and a remains of the Lonquéty dike are still visible on the foreshore.

The lithological nature of the bedrock helps explain this differential erosion, the position of the station being on a loose area while a few hundred meters further south, the construction on the base of the Pointe-aux-Oies would have allowed the building to be protected from erosion.