Sediment Transport Velocity by Tracer Experiment at Regla Beach (Spain)

Abstract

Hydrodynamic behavior of the different sand-grain-size fractions, transport paths, and advection speed were studied by two fluorescent tracer experiments at Regla Beach, in Chipiona, SW Spain. Sand tracers, with two different colors, were injected on a cross-shore profile. The coarse- and very-fine-sand fractions were moved seaward and northward from the injection points in the subtidal and intertidal zones. Medium- and fine-grain-size fractions remained longer. The sand advection speed (tracer centroid) was found to be a linear function of the speed of the longshore current, with a mean correlation coefficient of 0.016, similar to that found by previous authors in other beaches.