Identification of Regional Sediment Management (RSM) Opportunities Along the Upper Texas Coast Through Sediment Budget Analysis.

摘要

The purpose of this Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering Technical Note (CHETN) is to document development of a regional sediment budget and assessment of coastal sediment needs on the Upper Texas Coast from the Sabine Pass to the Matagorda Ship Channel. This effort was undertaken to better communicate regional sediment processes and assess Regional Sediment Management (RSM) opportunities along the Texas coast. RSM opportunities are driven by the ability to link sediment sources (places with excess sediment) and sediment sinks (places that need sediment). One impediment to successful RSM has been the need to efficiently share knowledge of these sources and sinks in a manner that facilitates collaboration between projects within the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as well as between USACE and non-Federal project sponsors. This study, supported by the USACE RSM program, presents a first step in improving communication of that knowledge. Specifically, the study aims to: Graphically display sediment transport processes in a way that is easily understood, Graphically display projects or sites that have future sediment needs, and Facilitate communication to identify and capitalize on RSM opportunities. To demonstrate the concept, this study is limited to beaches and inlets. If the results justify future investment, the database can be expanded to include inland project data as well as engineering activities. The Sediment Budget Analysis System (SBAS) software for ArcGIS 10 toolbar (Rosati and Kraus 2001; Dopsovic, Hardegree, and Rosati 2002) was applied to compile existing sediment budgets for the Upper Texas Coast from the Sabine Pass to the Matagorda Ship Channel into a single budget that can be easily appended. The sediment budget is an intuitive way to organize, process, and display sediment transport processes. Sediment budgets are directly useful in identifying future project needs by showing where sediment accumulates and erodes.