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The Making of a Natural Sandy Beach:
Have Rivers in Southern California Ever Been An Important Source of Sand?
Story Idea
Re-examine the commonly held belief that dams, urbanization and other human activities impacting rivers in Southern California have starved beaches of sand.
The lead investigator of this project believes that rivers in Southern California may never have been an important sand source. If correct, this would fundamentally change canons of beach dynamics, namely that rivers supply as much as 90 percent of sand to beaches.
Scientific Underpinning
In semiarid climates, rivers are usually dry. When they do carry water, they flow violently. During these violent episodes, a lot of sediment is suspended in the water. Often the water becomes denser than seawater. This means that at the coast, the freshwater sinks to the bottom and moves offshore, bypassing the nearshore system and severely reducing its potential to serve as an "input" of new sand.
Where
Initial field experiments, which will be funded by California Sea Grant, will be along the Santa Margarita River in northern San Diego County.
Lead Investigator
Neal Driscoll, Geosciences Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, T. 858-822-5026
NOAA's California Sea Grant College Program is a statewide, multi-university program of marine research, extension services, and education activities administered by the University of California. It is headquartered at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. The National Sea Grant College Program is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce.
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