Sediment Properties of Eroded Coastal Area at Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

This paper was carried out to identify the sediment properties at eroded areas where Sungai Lurus and Pantai Punggur located in Batu Pahat were selected as the study area for this research. This study is prompted by the factors from climate changes which lead to the increase of sea level and vicious behaviour of sea waves. These factors are related to the erosion of coastline or the coastal changes along the south-west coast of Malaysia. The vulnerability of Malaysian coastline towards the coastal changes is something that is vital to deal with as Malaysia is surrounded by sea, and the coastal region plays a great role towards the socio-economic activities. In order to fathom the erosion at the coastline, it is crucial to grasp the fundamental of the soil physical properties which will clarify how the sediments might be transported. Based on the soil samples collected, Pantai Sungai Lurus can be classified as sandy clay with moisture content between 92% to 158% and 8.41% to 20.9% of organic content. Meanwhile, Pantai Punggur can be classified as silty clay with moisture content between 109% to 134% and 14.29% to 14.52% of organic content. The specific gravity of the samples is found to be between 2.624 to 2.651. The settling velocity at Pantai Sungai Lurus is about 79682x10^-5 m/s to 0.088x10^-5 m/s, and Pantai Punggur about 433x10^-5 m/s to 0.552x10^-5 m/s. The soil erodibility at Pantai Sungai Lurus is about 0.05776 (ton/ha) (ha.hr/Mj.mm), while at Pantai Punggur about 0.01264 (ton/ha)(ha.hr/Mj.mm). The erosion rate is estimated to be 2.91x10^-3 kg/m²/s at Pantai Sungai Lurus, and 0.812x10^-3 kg/m²/s at Pantai Punggur. It can be concluded that the erosion rate of selected points at Pantai Sungai Lurus is higher than Pantai Punggur.