Quantifying overwash flux in barrier systems : an example from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA
Name
775584120-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
10.14 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6f8bead477d8829a7dbb5847b6a29790
Author(s)
Carruthers, Emily A
Advisor(s)
Jeffery P. Donnelly, Andrew D. Ashton and Robert L. Evans.
Date Issued
2011
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Coastal barriers are particularly susceptible to the predicted effects of accelerated of sea-level rise and the potential for increased impacts of intense storms. Over centennial scales, barriers are maintained via overtopping during storms, causing deposition of washover fans on their landward sides. This study examines three washover fans on the south shore of Martha's Vineyard using a suite of data including vibracores, ground penetrating radar, high resolution dGPS, and LiDAR data. From these data, the volumes of the deposits were determined and range from 2.1-2.4 x 10⁴ m³. Two overwashes occurred during Hurricane Bob in 1991. The water levels produced by this storm have a return interval of ~28 years, resulting in an onshore sediment flux of 2.4-3.4 m³/m/yr. The third washover was deposited by a nor'easter in January 1997, which has a water level return interval of ~6 years, resulting in a flux of 8.5 m³/m/yr. These fluxes are smaller than the flux of sediment needed to maintain a geometrically stable barrier estimated from shoreline retreat rates, suggesting that the barrier is not in long-term equilibrium, a result supported by the thinning of the barrier over this time interval.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-74).
Subjects
Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering.
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
MIT Department
Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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