Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments
Our research goals are to provide the scientific information, knowledge, and tools required to ensure that decisions about land and resource use, management practices, and future development in the coastal zone and adjacent watersheds can be evaluated with a complete understanding of the probable effects on coastal ecosystems and communities, and a full assessment of their vulnerability to natural and human-driven changes.
Coastal resource managers face a wide range of problems related to sediment transport. Sediment management or questions related to sediment transport are involved in dredging operations, preventing or planning for coastal erosion, evaluation of the impacts of anthropogenic alterations on coastal ecosystems, restoration of coastal habitats, and planning for climate change. To address these questions, coastal managers typically require both site-specific information about sediment transport processes, and predictive models of the outcome of potential management actions.
Understanding of sediment transport processes and the ability to model sediment transport have advanced significantly in recent decades, but important limitations remain. It is still a common practice to report results of sediment transport modeling with limited or no calibration, due to lack of suitable data for calibration. The relative importance of factors governing sediment transport varies between coastal environments due to differences in both sediment properties and physical forcing. The development of robust models of sediment transport applicable to all aquatic environments, and the movement of sediment between them, requires data from a range of settings for testing.
Project Objectives
- to utilize USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program expertise to investigate problems in coastal sediment transport that are relevant to sediment management issues, including protection of coastal ecosystems, reducing the risk of natural hazards, and adapting to or predicting effects of climate change
- to utilize the results obtained in these studies to improve understanding of sediment transport processes, and incorporate this improved understanding in predictive models
- to conduct research and advise resource managers on the impacts of human activities and the effectiveness of restoration measures on river, estuarine, and marine habitats in collaboration with federal, state, and local agencies, and academic partners.
Current Research Topics
Click to learn more about our research:
- Drag and sediment transport: conditions at the bottom boundary
- Coastal watershed and estuary restoration in the Monterey Bay area
- Sediment transport in submarine canyons
- Columbia River estuary
- San Francisco Bay geomorphology
- Sediment transport between estuarine habitats in San Francisco Bay
- Transport of invasive microorganisms
Below are the study topics associated with this project.
Below are data sets associated with this project.
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Sediment Transport in San Francisco Bay
The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers deliver half the amount of sediment they did 50 years ago to San Francisco Bay. Just as sea-level rise is accelerating, the demand for sediment is growing.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Southwest Washington littoral drift restoration—Beach and nearshore morphological monitoring
Small-scale turbidity currents in a big submarine canyon
Field measurements of oceanic turbidity currents, especially diluted currents, are extremely rare. We present a dilute turbidity current recorded by instrumented moorings 14.5 km apart at 1300 and 1860 m water depth. The sediment concentration within the flow was 0.017%, accounting for 18 cm/s gravity current speed due to density excess. Tidal currents of ∼30 cm/s during the event provided a "tail
Currents, drag, and sediment transport induced by a tsunami
The offshore export of sand during exceptional discharge from California rivers
Temporal and spatial patterns in wind stress and wind stress curl over the central Southern California Bight
Validation of a coupled wave-flow model in a high-energy setting: the mouth of the Columbia River
2010 bathymetric survey and digital elevation model of Corte Madera Bay, California
Wave exposure of Corte Madera Marsh, Marin County, California: A field investigation
Bathymetry and digital elevation models of Coyote Creek and Alviso Slough, South San Francisco Bay, California
Wind-enhanced resuspension in the shallow waters of South San Francisco Bay: Mechanisms and potential implications for cohesive sediment transport
Seasonal-scale nearshore morphological evolution: Field observations and numerical modeling
Beach morphology monitoring in the Columbia River Littoral Cell: 1997-2005
Below are news stories associated with this project.
Our research goals are to provide the scientific information, knowledge, and tools required to ensure that decisions about land and resource use, management practices, and future development in the coastal zone and adjacent watersheds can be evaluated with a complete understanding of the probable effects on coastal ecosystems and communities, and a full assessment of their vulnerability to natural and human-driven changes.
Coastal resource managers face a wide range of problems related to sediment transport. Sediment management or questions related to sediment transport are involved in dredging operations, preventing or planning for coastal erosion, evaluation of the impacts of anthropogenic alterations on coastal ecosystems, restoration of coastal habitats, and planning for climate change. To address these questions, coastal managers typically require both site-specific information about sediment transport processes, and predictive models of the outcome of potential management actions.
Understanding of sediment transport processes and the ability to model sediment transport have advanced significantly in recent decades, but important limitations remain. It is still a common practice to report results of sediment transport modeling with limited or no calibration, due to lack of suitable data for calibration. The relative importance of factors governing sediment transport varies between coastal environments due to differences in both sediment properties and physical forcing. The development of robust models of sediment transport applicable to all aquatic environments, and the movement of sediment between them, requires data from a range of settings for testing.
Project Objectives
- to utilize USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program expertise to investigate problems in coastal sediment transport that are relevant to sediment management issues, including protection of coastal ecosystems, reducing the risk of natural hazards, and adapting to or predicting effects of climate change
- to utilize the results obtained in these studies to improve understanding of sediment transport processes, and incorporate this improved understanding in predictive models
- to conduct research and advise resource managers on the impacts of human activities and the effectiveness of restoration measures on river, estuarine, and marine habitats in collaboration with federal, state, and local agencies, and academic partners.
Current Research Topics
Click to learn more about our research:
- Drag and sediment transport: conditions at the bottom boundary
- Coastal watershed and estuary restoration in the Monterey Bay area
- Sediment transport in submarine canyons
- Columbia River estuary
- San Francisco Bay geomorphology
- Sediment transport between estuarine habitats in San Francisco Bay
- Transport of invasive microorganisms
Below are the study topics associated with this project.
Below are data sets associated with this project.
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Sediment Transport in San Francisco Bay
The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers deliver half the amount of sediment they did 50 years ago to San Francisco Bay. Just as sea-level rise is accelerating, the demand for sediment is growing.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Southwest Washington littoral drift restoration—Beach and nearshore morphological monitoring
Small-scale turbidity currents in a big submarine canyon
Field measurements of oceanic turbidity currents, especially diluted currents, are extremely rare. We present a dilute turbidity current recorded by instrumented moorings 14.5 km apart at 1300 and 1860 m water depth. The sediment concentration within the flow was 0.017%, accounting for 18 cm/s gravity current speed due to density excess. Tidal currents of ∼30 cm/s during the event provided a "tail
Currents, drag, and sediment transport induced by a tsunami
The offshore export of sand during exceptional discharge from California rivers
Temporal and spatial patterns in wind stress and wind stress curl over the central Southern California Bight
Validation of a coupled wave-flow model in a high-energy setting: the mouth of the Columbia River
2010 bathymetric survey and digital elevation model of Corte Madera Bay, California
Wave exposure of Corte Madera Marsh, Marin County, California: A field investigation
Bathymetry and digital elevation models of Coyote Creek and Alviso Slough, South San Francisco Bay, California
Wind-enhanced resuspension in the shallow waters of South San Francisco Bay: Mechanisms and potential implications for cohesive sediment transport
Seasonal-scale nearshore morphological evolution: Field observations and numerical modeling
Beach morphology monitoring in the Columbia River Littoral Cell: 1997-2005
Below are news stories associated with this project.