Date of Award
Summer 8-2018
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Program
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Department
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Major Professor
Dr. Ioannis Georgiou
Second Advisor
Dr. Michael Miner
Third Advisor
Dr. Dirk-Jan Walstra
Abstract
In Louisiana, barrier islands are undergoing morphological change driven by high rates of relative sea-level rise and interior wetland loss. Previous works utilized historical region-scale bathymetry and shoreline change analyses to assess coastal evolution. However, more localized assessments considering the role of sediment transport processes in regional evolution are lacking. This is essential to predicting coastal change trajectories and allocating limited sand resources for nourishment. Using bathymetric and shoreline data, 100-m spaced shore-normal transects were created to track meter-scale elevation change for 1880s, 1930s, 1980s, 2006, and 2015. An automated framework was used to quantify and track parameters such as shoreline change, barrier island area and width, bathymetric isobath migration, and shoreface slope. Our results illustrate that monitoring subaerial island erosion rates are insufficient for evaluating regional sediment dynamics of transgressive coastal systems. Advances in understanding these processes will facilitate more informed planning, management, and mitigation of transgressive barrier islands.
Recommended Citation
Beasley, Benjamin S., "Coupled Barrier Island Shoreline and Shoreface Dynamics" (2018). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2508.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2508
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.