Sediment Transport Related to Potential Sand Mining Offshore New Jersey

Interest has developed to use borrow material from resource areas located on the inner continental shelf offshore New Jersey for beach replenishment purposes. A study was conducted to quantify the potential impacts of the offshore dredging and consequent beach nourishment on the local sediment transport patterns. In order to determine the offshore sediment transport patterns at the borrow locations, sediment transport rates were determined by coupling the results of spectral wave modeling with ambient current measurements. Having determined the sediment transport rates and directions at the borrow locations, and by knowing the volume of sediment to be mined, estimates of the borrow location recovery time were determined. These recovery time estimates were utilized to determine the time scale of influence on wave transformation, nearshore sediment transport, and re-mining frequencies.