Spatial surveys of the shifting sands : coastal sediment exchanges at Kioloa Bay, N.S.W.

Abstract

Dynamic process interactions on and near sandy beaches are becoming increasingly well understood. Variation of morphologic forms resulting from the changing balances of inshore-nearshore processes are my primary concern, with particular emphasis on transfers of sand between seabed, beach, and coastal dunes. This study was conceived in December, 1977, and required the monitoring of a single embayment for twelve months. The program was initiated in May, 1978, when the writer took up an A.N.U. Masters Degree scholarship. The beach chosen was Kioloa, where the A.N.U. has a research station, developed as a result of bequest of the site to the University by Edith and Joy London. The project schedule required the gathering of survey data through the inshore and nearshore zones on a weekly basis coupled with periods of semi-continuous measurements of the dynamic aspects of the surf zone, and of the dune system backing the northern most beach within the bay.