New Insights on Coastal Foredune Growth

The Relative Contributions of Marine and Aeolian Processes

Journal article (2018)

Authors

Nicholas Cohn Oregon State University
Peter Ruggiero Oregon State University
S. de Vries Coastal Engineering - CEG
George M. Kaminsky Washington State Department of Ecology
Research Group
Coastal Engineering (CEG) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2018 Nicholas Cohn, Peter Ruggiero, S. de Vries, George M. Kaminsky
DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077836
Morphodynamics Beach Coastal dunes Intertidal sandbar Progradation Total water levels
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

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Faculty

Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Department

Hydraulic Engineering

Research Group

Coastal Engineering

Abstract

Coastal foredune growth is typically associated with aeolian sediment transport processes, while foredune erosion is associated with destructive marine processes. New data sets collected at a high energy, dissipative beach suggest that total water levels in the collision regime can cause dunes to accrete-requiring a paradigm shift away from considering collisional wave impacts as unconditionally erosional. From morphologic change data sets, it is estimated that marine processes explain between 9% and 38% of annual dune growth with aeolian processes accounting for the remaining 62% to 91%. The largest wind-driven dune growth occurs during the winter, in response to high wind velocities, but out of phase with summertime beach growth via intertidal sandbar welding. The lack of synchronization between maximum beach sediment supply and wind-driven dune growth indicates that aeolian transport at this site is primarily transport, rather than supply, limited, likely due to a lack of fetch limitations.