Beach Replenishment Poll

SJerzSrfr · Oct 21, 2010

oceanisnotasbigaswethink said: ↑

Thanks for all your input...much appreciated.

I know who we are up against....US army corps of Engineers. In fact even DNREC cant tell them what to do. This is evident by the dredging project up near Philly. My main goal is to provide recognition that "quality outdoor recreation" is being diminished through beach restoration processes. Second, the substrate (sand being pumped) is not the low quality "till" that has been historically deposited on our beaches in the past replenishments. The type of sand utilized for the past replenishments has been too coarse to provide the type of sandbars that form the waves that we like to surf. Tower road for example. The original or historic sand type there is similar to what you would find at Assateague as opposed to the "till" sand they are picking up offshore. But the sand you will find at tower is the coarse crap they pumped on Dewey a few years ago and it has washed down to tower. Once it washes away (coarse sand is eroded faster than fine sand that is why fine sand forms sandbars that are more solid and erode less) Think of it like this...Over thousands or millions of years the sand on the beach is constantly being pounded by wave action. This results in a break down of sand particles, eventually leading to a very fine grained sand (ie Assateage sand). The sand further offshore hasnt been exposed to that long period of wave action and is much larger grain size. This larger grain size does not form sandbars like the fine grain stuff. That said, if they would pump the fine grain stuff onshore for their replenishment....would it form better sandbars. Also, they would benefit from pumping the fine grain as it would hold up longer over time as opposed to the coarse stuff.

So its not that were going to stop replenishment but, can we work together to provide some insight through sound science to mitigate this problem?
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Here is your answer to working together with the ACOE on these projects. In the local Cape May County paper, there was an article talking about how surfers can become more involved in these federally funded projects. Here is the link for it.
http://www.asbpa.org/pdfs/2010-05-17SurfingPartnershipPlanningGuidance.pdf
I got about half way through it... pretty boring stuff.

But as far as coarse sand eroding faster than a fine grained sand. You are 180 degrees off on that one. Fine grained sand will erode much faster than a coarse grained sand.

LBCrew · Oct 22, 2010

SJerzSrfr said: ↑

Fine grained sand will erode much faster than a coarse grained sand.
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Correct.... As grain size gets smaller, erosion rates rise, until you get to clay particles, which erode slower than fine sand.

oceanisnotasbigaswethink · Oct 22, 2010

LBCrew said: ↑

Correct.... As grain size gets smaller, erosion rates rise, until you get to clay particles, which erode slower than fine sand.
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absolutely.....my bad....should have proofread, I blew it....what I was trying to relay was the cohesiveness of the fine sand being altered by depositing "till" more so the pebbles and rocks eating away at the sandbars through wave action contributing to scarping

oceanisnotasbigaswethink · Nov 18, 2010

resurected............hey sniffer........throw your vote

Forums

Beach Replenishment Poll

Has your surfing experience ever been negatively affected by beach replenishment?

no, Im not sure I even know how to surf or when its good

no

yes, but we need more sand on our beach for tourists to enjoy

without a doubt, yes

SJerzSrfr Well-Known Member

LBCrew Well-Known Member

oceanisnotasbigaswethink Well-Known Member

oceanisnotasbigaswethink Well-Known Member