Lake Erie
Ohio's Coastal Beaches
Beaches are temporary geologic features that are found where land and water meet. They are composed of an accumulation of plant, animal, shell and rock fragments, ranging in size from fine sand to large boulders.
Beaches are usually thought of as one of the most attractive elements for shoreline recreation. But they also serve as a first line of defense against erosion damage, protecting the land behind them from wearing away. In normal weather, gently sloping beaches cause incoming waves to break and use up their energy before reaching inland areas.
Children who swim at Ohio State Parks with their families this summer can receive credit toward one of the 11 activities listed in ODNR Explore the Outdoors campaign. This hands-on family program gives Ohio children the opportunity to reunite with nature, improve their physical and emotional health and discover the rewards of becoming environmental stewards. Program information and downloadable activity guides can be found at www.exploretheoutdoorsohio.com.
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Ohio Department of Health Beach Monitoring Sample Results
During summer months, selected public beaches along Lake Erie are sampled for E.coli bacteria. This site shows current sample results.
Ohio Nowcasting Beach Advisories Cuyahoga County)
Mathematical models were used to develop and test nowcasts for beach advisories at four Lake Erie beaches in 2007. As of 2008, nowcast systems are operational for Huntington and Edgewater.
Additionally, some of Ohio's coastal counties and communities have beach sampling or permitting programs. Those programs include:
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Movement of sand and sediment
Beaches have a dynamic quality in that the rock fragments that compose beaches are always in motion.
Movement of beach material may be parallel to land, away from land or toward land. Beach material moves as waves advance and recede.
Movement of beaches is known as littoral transport. It is this littoral transport mechanism that causes humans problems by removing material from where we would like to have it on our beach and placing it where we do not want it such as in the harbor channel entrance.
Littoral Transport
The movement of littoral drift in the littoral zone by waves and currents including movement parallel (longshore transport) and perpendicular (on/offshore transport) to the shore.
Littoral Zone
An indefinite zone extending seaward from the shoreline to just beyond the breaker zone.
Littoral Drift
The sedimentary material that is being moved in the littoral zone as a result of waves breaking at an angle on the shore. This movement may be parallel or perpendicular to the shore.
Beaches are shore protection
A beach that is relatively stable or growing provides natural protection to the land behind it.
When the beach area shrinks, there is increased danger of property damage as the water line advances inland. This inward movement of the shoreline is called erosion.
Erosion threatens and damages private and public property and infrastructure. Repair from erosion can cost millions of dollars.
Beach Nourishment
Beach nourishment is the introduction of material along a shoreline to supplement the natural littoral drift. Although beach nourishment is not generally used as a protection measure, there are several reasons for nourishing a shore including:
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Controlling erosive forces by providing a sacrificial area as a source of littoral material;
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Supplementing littoral drift to offset particular actions; and,
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Replenishing reserves of littoral material normally available in sand dunes.
Quality sediment available to nourish eroding beaches is scarce, and the glacial till bluffs can erode rapidly when unprotected by a sandy beach and nearshore profile.
Beach Fill
Beach fills are quantities of sand placed on the shoreline by mechanical means, such as dredging and pumping from offshore deposits or overland hauling and dumping by trucks. The resulting beach provides some protection to the area behind it and serves as a valuable recreational resource.
The addition of fill increases the width of the backshore, moving the high water line farther offshore. Coarser fill will erode more slowly, while finer fill will erode more quickly than the native beach material. The slope of the filled beach should match the natural slope as closely as possible.
The cost and convenience of beach fill as a method of erosion control depends on the rate of loss from the beach. Where fill is readily available at a nearby location, the initial cost is relatively low, but refilling constitutes a regular maintenance cost. In some cases this can be substantially reduced or eliminated by the use of breakwaters or retaining structures.
Beach fill is often used in combination with construction of a perched beach or groin field. These combinations may minimize potential damage to other beaches or provide a beach where the natural littoral drift cannot be effectively trapped.
Links
ODNR Ohio Coastal Management Document (3.96 MB pdf ) See Policy 21: Lakeshore Recreation and Access (p160), and Poicy 22: Lake Erie Beaches and Public Bathing (p.165).
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