Monday, April 6, 2015

Criss-Cross Sediment Deposition at Point Hudson

This post is a rather simple capture of the sediment transport at Point Hudson in Port Townsend. The point is at the corner of the coast from the Strait of Juan de Fuca into Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound. I noted that there were two sediment trains in the tidal and subtidal area at the northeast corner of the point. Sediment is derived from bluffs to the west and from bluff to the south. 


Oblique view from 2006 (Ecology)

Prominent plume of sediment from the south shore drift

This image captures the east directed drift being the more dominant.

Some shore armoring has taken place along the north side of the point. Sediment sources to the point are not what they were in the past, but still pretty good relative to other coastal sites. Not much loss of sediment source to the west along the Strait. The urban center of Port Townsend may be disrupting some sediment supply from the south, but there are some high eroding bluffs within the city to the south at Morgan Hill that still provide substantial sediment via landslides and bluff retreat.  

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