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GLDD Coastal & Dredging Laboratory

Texas A&M University College of Engineering

Sand Tracer Study of a Nearshore Berm in South Padre Island, TX

Jens Figlus, Youn-Kyung Song

Sand Tracer Study of a Nearshore Berm in South Padre Island, TX

December 2020

This report details the results from the laboratory analysis of 950 surface-sediment grab samples collected at nearshore seabed and dry beach locations near South Padre Island (SPI) over the course of a 15-month field study between August 2018 and November 2019. The field sampling campaign was part of a sediment tracer study to elucidate sediment transport pathways in the nearshore region of SPI after tracer release over a submerged feeder berm. Unconfined sediment feeder systems can be a desirable alternative to traditional direct beach placement of nourishment material because the feeder systems are less intrusive to the beach environment and often less expensive. Placing sediment as close to the active beach profile, as practicable, and relying on natural nearshore processes to slowly distribute the sediment to the beach can keep a finite resource within the littoral zone. Tracer particle counts were obtained from nine sediment sampling campaigns covering a grid of 60 seabed and 50 dry beach locations. Tracer counts were performed in the laboratory making use of the fluorescent and ferrimagnetic properties of the engineered particles to separate them from other sediment material. A cylindrical high-power magnet was rolled over a mono-layer of sediment to extract the ferrimagnetic tracer particles. Blue light illumination was used to visualize the fluorescent tracer particles for counting. Results indicate that although the highest tracer counts remained near the initial release site of the feeder berm during the duration of the study, appreciable amounts of tracer moved throughout the study region and were found within the bounds of the active profile. Even though fluctuations of tracer migration were observed, the most prominent appearance of tracer particles outside the initial placement site occurred south and immediately west of it, indicating net alongshore and onshore transport in those directions. Relatively few tracer particles were found on the dry beach, indicating appreciable deposition of feeder material there may take years rather than months.

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