The assessment of the basic movement parameters for marine sediments by means of radiotracer investigations

Interest and practical engineering activity is most often focused on the region of the coastal zone stretching from the shoreline to a depth of the order of several metres. Sediment transport in this region was the object of intensive and complex field studies with the use of radioisotopic tracers. Taking into account the natural features of the sand, glass beads with a diameter of D=0.02-0.025 cm and mass density of 2668 kg/m3 were prepared. The beads were labelled with Ir-192, with a half time of 74,4 days. The results of analyses lead to the conclusion that the bead load transport most often occurs in a relatively thin layer, exceeding 2 cm only in storm conditions. In the case of weak wave motion this layer has a thickness of several grain diameters, while it may be even 4-6 cm thick in storm conditions. It has been found that for an oblique direction of wave to the shoreline, the local intensity of sediment transport can attain a rate of 40-100 kg/m·hour. The global sediment transport rate has been summed up for the entire surf zone, yielding 7 m3/s and much more in storm conditions. (author). 2 refs, 5 figs