Extreme human-induced pocket beach growth on a rocky coast.

A large human-induced sediment supply (~ 400 Mt) took place on the Atacama Desert rocky coast (~ 26° S) as a result of the dumping of copper mine tailings between 1938 and 1990. We show that the input of this large sediment load has affected the natural sediment dynamics in this coastal area. The coastal system counterbalanced this abrupt increase in sediment supply with rapid accretion while the dumping was active.