SEDIMENTOLOGY OF BEACHES IN NORTHERN PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA, USA

Abstract

Beach nourishment is a common strategy for erosion mitigation that also increases coastal resilience to storm impacts, provides habitat, and supports the economy. Regulations often require that placed sediment closely match the native grain size distribution and composition, however characteristics can vary based on the borrow site. Certain sediment properties will also influence beach slope and other critical beach functions. This study evaluates the 3-dimensional sediment properties and beach morphology of nourished and non-nourished barrier island beaches in northern Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. Surveyed beach profiles were compared with predicted slope based on median grain size. The inlet-adjacent beach managed with annual placement of beneficial use of dredged materials consisted of poorly sorted coarse sand and the steepest measured slope. Sediment was progressively finer and better sorted downdrift with decreasing foreshore slopes. Although sediment near the shoreline is typically the coarsest, clasts were finer than the mid-beach location suggesting that the sampling period coincided with beach recovery and onshore sediment transport of finer material. Sediment at the surface differed from sediment at depth, likely due to the frequent introduction of sediment from various borrow areas compared to the dominance of weathered coquina at depth. The non-carbonate, siliciclastic fraction was primary quartz with few other minerals. The estimated beach slope at the location with the coarsest sediment matched the measured slope. A lower beach slope was predicted for the other locations with finer grain sizes at the shoreline that was attributed to slightly steeper slopes associated with beach accretion. Therefore, complicated spatio-temporal morphodynamics of beaches should be considered when using median grain size from only one sampling event.