A Field Experiment on the Formation of Beach Cusps

Sato, Michio; Kuroki, Keiji; Shinohara, Tomoaki

doi:10.1061/9780872629332.168

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Cusps, although not as small as ours, have been also reported by Wright and Short (1983) as indicators of the early stage of beach front truncation. However, other studies attributed cusp formation to accretion processes only (Sato et al, 1992;Masselink et al, 1997). In Alassio, the relative absence of cusps on the drained segment is suggested as an indication of the efficiency of the draining to prevent erosion on the foreshore during some medium wave energy events of Hs b 2 m. At such wave energy cusps are expected to form (Short, 1979;Holland, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of beach dewatering — Alassio, Italy

Bowman

Ferri

Pranzini

2007

Coastal Engineering

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The goal of this study is to estimate the efficiency of dewatering operations in Alassio Beach, north Italy by following an integrated approach which included beach volume calculations, daily mapping of the shoreline position, examination of specific beach widening events and daily comparisons of morphodynamic characteristics of the drained beach versus a control section which included wave run-up, bar patterns, rip migration, evolution of the berm and cusp morphology.Alassio beach was documented by a daily time-lapse photography, by repeated DGPS profile measurements and by an hourly wave and sea level monitoring. Following one year of draining the shoreline position and the beach volume of the drained beach and the control section showed little differences; i.e., accumulation of 0.28 m 3 /m 2 and a shoreline advance of 1.1 m on the drained beach, whereas on the control beach the volume change was −0.03 m 3 /m 2 and the shoreline retreated 1.2 m. Short episodes of beach widening, 1-7 days long, which coincided with onshore bar movement and a relative low sea level, occurred simultaneously on the drained and the control sector. This data indicated the inefficiency of the draining operation.An improved resolution for determining the draining effect was attained by the sequential snap-shot photography which showed many systematic morphological differences between the drained beach and the reference segment. The drained beach developed a berm crest and a linear, often scarped foreshore with a narrow swash zone. No such cumulative morphologies were observed on the non-drained control beach, which commonly displayed cusps that were usually absent on the drained foreshore.The wave data showed recurrent medium wave events of Hs = 1-2 m, which repeatedly interrupted the calms thus "cutting-off" the beach evolution. The draining in Alassio was unable to promote beach accumulation by counteracting the erosive effect of the medium interrupting storms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of beach dewatering — Alassio, Italy

Bowman

Ferri

Pranzini

2007

Coastal Engineering

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“…Many previous studies have described cusp formation as purely due to accretionary processes with the horns experiencing more sediment accumulation than the embayment (e.g. Russell and McIntire, 1965;Sallenger, 1979;Takeda and Sunamura, 1983;Antia, 1987;Sato et al, 1992;Masselink et al, 1997); some have reported that they form due to erosional processes with the horns being residual features that experienced less erosion than the embayment (Smith and Dolan, 1960;Miller et al, 1989); and others have stated that they are the result of a combination of accretionary and erosional processes, occurring respectively at the horn and in the embayment (e.g. Kuenen, 1948;Otvos, 1964;Guza and Inman, 1975) as shown in the present experiment.…”

Section: Study Site and Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 97%

SHORT COMMUNICATION��A field experiment of cusp formation on a coarse clastic beach using a suspended video-camera system

Sunamura

Aoki

2000

Earth Surf. Process. Landforms

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Cusp formation was continuously monitored on a manually flattened, plane section of a coarse clastic, microtidal, pocket beach on the Pacific coast of Japan using a CCD camera suspended in the air. Vertical video pictures enabled the examination of the temporal change in foreshore morphologies and swash pattern. Boulders on the beach face appeared to have triggered the formation of beach cusps, which gradually and successively grew up alongshore. In 2Á5 h, two well defined beach cusps had developed with a spacing of 2Á2 and 2Á5 m, respectively.

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A Field Experiment on the Formation of Beach Cusps

Cited by 2 publications

References 9 publications

Efficacy of beach dewatering — Alassio, Italy

Efficacy of beach dewatering — Alassio, Italy

SHORT COMMUNICATION��A field experiment of cusp formation on a coarse clastic beach using a suspended video-camera system

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