Sediment Transport - Erin Cziraki

The inner shelf region of the Mid-Atlantic Bight, and the Myrtle Beach/Grand Strand area in particular, is composed of a patchwork of exposed rocky hardbottoms and thin, mobile sand beds. Relatively shallow water depths combined with frequent frontal and storm passages commonly creates bottom boundary layer conditions energetic enough to suspend and transport sand. Knowledge of the direction and magnitude of the resulting sediment transport can be useful to project managers when preparing for beach renourishment activities, particularly when combined with side-scan imagery, to locate sand borrow sites. The neighboring rocky hardbottoms provide habitat and substrate for benthic sessile communities which then attract benthic and pelagic fish populations. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is interested in how mobilized sediments may be affecting the hardbottom communities. In order to answer these questions, bottom-mounted aluminum frames have been deployed at two sites off of Myrtle Beach. Various acoustic instruments are attached to the frames by divers and collect data on waves, currents, and suspended sediment concentration in high-resolution profiles from the surface to the bottom. The magnitude and direction of sediment transport will be examined on the scale of individual meteorological events to seasons. Quantities for events can be compared to infer which type of event has the biggest impact on reworking the sediments. Seasonal observations can be compared to monthly side-scan images to see if the measurements corroborate changes seen in the locations of the sand bodies. Measured observations of suspended sediment and sediment transport profiles will also be compared to profiles generated by the Styles and Glenn 2002 bottom boundary layer model to assess the validity of using such a model in the study area.

I envision incorporating my research into a science class using an interdiscliplinary approach. Although what I am concentrating on for my thesis is mostly geophysical, I am also assisting DNR with biological investigations. In my experience, most middle and high school students are more interested in the biology. I would like to take that interest and use it to build into the physical and geological areas by showing the students how things work together to create the “big picture”. I would use as many hands-on activities as possible to engage the students’ interest and encourage scientific inquiry. It would be my goal to not only teach the students new concepts but to actually get them interested in and excited about physical oceanography, marine geology and biology, the relationships among them, and how they can apply to every-day life. If I was to be working in a 10th grade science class, I would try to incorporate some quantitative understanding of physical processes but I would try to do it in a way that would not overwhelm the students. By the 10th grade, students should have some introduction algebra, physics, geology, and biology so that I could take what they already know and apply it new concepts.