Physical and Biological Alterations Following Dredging in Two Beach Nourishment Borrow Areas in South Carolina's Coastal Zone

Abstract

ABSTRACT Crowe, S.E.; Bergquist, D.C.; Sanger, D.M., and Van Dolah, R.F., 2016. Physical and biological alterations following dredging in two beach nourishment borrow areas in South Carolina's coastal zone. Dredging of nearshore subtidal sand deposits as a source for beach fill is a common practice in the SE United States, but the long-term effects of this practice on benthic environments are not well documented. Two borrow areas used to nourish the shoreface of Folly Beach, South Carolina, in 2005 (borrow area A) and 2007 (borrow area B) were sampled for sediment characteristics (silt and clay, calcium carbonate, total organic matter content, and sand phi size) and macrobenthic infaunal community composition using a before–after, control–impact design over periods of 8 and 6 years postdredging, respectively. Following dredging, surficial sediment characteristics within both borrow pits shifted toward finer materials and showed little evidence of recovering 8 and 6 years after impact. Changes in the benth...