Foredune dynamics at a Lake Michigan site during rising and high lake levels

Abstract

On Great Lakes dunes, the link between foredune dynamics and coastal processes is seen in dune responses to changing lake levels. This paper investigates foredune dynamics during a recent period of rising and high lake levels. The study location was an active foredune in P.J. Hoffmaster State Park on the east coast of Lake Michigan, where field data were collected from 2000 through the final destruction of the foredune by wave removal in November 2019. Foredune dynamics were studied with erosion pins, direct observations, photographs, mapping, and on-site wind measurements. Regional climate and lake-level data were obtained from established data collection programs. The response of the foredune to rising lake levels was compared to several models of foredune behavior. During the study, the Lake Michigan-Huron level rose 1.89 m from January 2013 to July 2020. After an early transitional period, foredune activity was characterized by scarp retreat (4–19 m per year) and dune narrowing from 2014 to 2019. When the foredune completely disappeared in November 2019, erosion/scarping began on the next landward dune. The foredune activity fits Olson’s (1958) model for foredune growth and erosion through lake-level cycles. The foredune migration predicted by the revised Davidson-Arnott (2021) model of foredune response to relative water level rise did not occur, most likely because the rate of lake-level rise was too high. The six years of foredune narrowing before wave erosion started affecting the next landward dune represent a time-lag in Lake Michigan dune history models of increased dune activity during high lake-level stands.