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GLDD Coastal & Dredging Laboratory

Texas A&M University College of Engineering

Predicting Sea Turtles Nest Flooding on Sandy Beaches

Jakob C Christiaanse, José AA Antolínez, Jens Figlus, Tim M Dellapenna, Christopher D Marshall

Predicting Sea Turtles Nest Flooding on Sandy Beaches

May 29, 2025

Sea turtles depend on sandy beaches around the World for their nesting habitat. They face a major challenge due to flooding and erosion of their nesting beaches. Turtle nests incubate under the sand surface for six to eight weeks until hatching. During this time, high tides, storm surges, wave runup, and elevated groundwater levels can inundate incubating nests, significantly increasing egg mortality (Patricio et al., 2021). Even the capillary fringe can potentially deprive incubating eggs from oxygen. Furthermore, sand moisture content influences the sand temperature in the nests, which determines the sex of the hatchling turtles. Nature-based solutions—–for example, through turtle- friendly design of sand nourishments—–may offer promising opportunities to preserve and even expand nesting habitats. To help design such nature-based solutions, this study aims to create a predictive modelling tool to assess the risk of nest inundation on sandy beaches for different profile shapes and hydrodynamic conditions.

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