Observations of Coastal Sediment Dynamics of the Tijuana Estuary Fine Sediment Fate and Transport Demonstration Project, Imperial Beach, California

By Jonathan A. Warrick, Kurt Rosenberger, Angela Lam, Joanne Ferreira, Ian M. Miller, Meg Rippy, Jan Svejkovsky, and Neomi Mustain

Abstract

Coastal restoration and management must address the presence, use, and transportation of fine sediment, yet little information exists on the patterns and/or processes of fine-sediment transport and deposition for these systems. To fill this information gap, a number of State of California, Federal, and private industry partners developed the Tijuana Estuary Fine Sediment Fate and Transport Demonstration Project (“Demonstration Project”) with the purpose of monitoring the transport, fate, and impacts of fine sediment from beach-sediment nourishments in 2008 and 2009 near the Tijuana River estuary, Imperial Beach, California. The primary purpose of the Demonstration Project was to collect and provide information about the directions, rates, and processes of fine-sediment transport along and across a California beach and nearshore setting. To achieve these goals, the U.S. Geological Survey monitored water, beach, and seafloor properties during the 2008–2009 Demonstration Project. The project utilized sediment with ~40 percent fine sediment by mass so that the dispersal and transport of fine sediment would be easily recognizable. The purpose of this report is to present and disseminate the data collected during the physical monitoring of the Demonstration Project. These data are available online at the links noted in the “Additional Digital Information” section. Synthesis of these data and results will be provided in subsequent publications.

First posted May 3, 2012

Report PDF (6.8 MB)
Appendixes 1–8 folders (compressed, 685 MB total; expanded, 2.56 GB total)
The eight appendixes consist of the following:
1—Sediment grain-size distribution data from the pre-placement stockpile
2—Sediment grain-size distribution data from seafloor samples
3—Sediment grain-size distribution data from beach samples
4—Suspended-sediment concentration and grain-size distribution data from beach-swash samples
5—Conductivity-temperature depth (CTD) and optical turbidity measurements from small vessel water sampling
6—Suspended-sediment concentration measurements from small vessel water sampling
7—Remote-sensing imagery
8—Oceanographic data

This report is available only on the Web.

For additional information:
Contact Information, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
Pacific Science Center
400 Natural Bridges Drive
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/

Part of this report is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF); the latest version of Adobe Reader or similar software is required to view it. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader, free of charge.

Suggested citation:

Warrick, J.A., Rosenberger, K., Lam, A., Ferreira, J., Miller, I.M., Rippy, M., Svejkovsky, J., and Mustain, N., 2012, Observations of coastal sediment dynamics of the Tijuana Estuary Fine Sediment Fate and Transport Demonstration Project, Imperial Beach, California, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2012–1083, 29 p and data files. (Available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1083/.)

Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Project Objectives

The 2008–2009 Demonstration Project

Physical Monitoring Techniques and Data

References Cited

Appendixes 1–8