The past, present, and future of littoral transport processes along the Illinois coast of Lake Michigan
- Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, IL (United States)
The 101-km Illinois coast of Lake Michigan incorporates diverse settings, ranging from the most intensely engineered shoreline along the Great lakes to a natural shoreline along a well-developed beach-ridge plain. The estimated rate of littoral transport along the Illinois coast, prior to any coastal engineering, was approximately 80,000 cubic m/year. No obstructions interrupted the continuous net southerly transport to a drift terminus along the Indiana coast. Jetties built in the 1830s to defend the mouth of the Chicago River formed the first barriers to littoral transport, and substantial downdrift erosion resulted. Additional coastal structures that form both total and partial barriers to littoral transport have segmented the original single littoral-transport cell into a series of 6 primary cells (bounded by total barriers) and 18 secondary cells (bounded by partial barriers). As a result, the supply of littoral sediment from the Illinois coast that once nourished the Indiana coast has been eliminated. Future management of sand resources along the Illinois coast should recognize and be compatible with the segmentation of the littoral-transport system into separate cells. Rather than viewing littoral-drift nourishment from the standpoint of the entire coastline, sand volumes within the cells should be conserved. Under this approach, sediment nourishment would be used to maintain sediment volumes within cells at some desired level; updrift backpassing of sand among subcells would recycle most littoral sediment within each cell. Artificial bypassing of the total barriers between cells in an attempt to reestablish the preengineered littoral-transport system is unrealistic.
- OSTI ID:
- 7140852
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9404217-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 26:5; Conference: 27. annual conference of the North-Central Section of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Kalamazoo, MI (United States), 28-29 Apr 1994; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
LAKE MICHIGAN
SHORES
SEDIMENTS
DEPOSITION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EROSION
SOIL CONSERVATION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOMORPHOLOGY
ILLINOIS
COASTAL REGIONS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGY
GREAT LAKES
LAKES
MASS TRANSFER
NORTH AMERICA
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
SURFACE WATERS
USA
580000* - Geosciences
540250 - Environment
Terrestrial- Site Resource & Use Studies- (1990-)