Dr.
Watson gave a presentation titled Severe Erosion of
Texas Beaches Caused by Engineering Modifications to the Coast and
Rivers at the Harte
Research Institute auditorium, Texas A&M University, Corpus
Christi, Texas on Friday January 19, 2007. The proposed
350 ft. setback for construction on Nueces County barrier islands was
discussed. A
PowerPoint slide show of this talk with narration as presented at the
Harte Institute can be downloaded at the following link. The
presentation is about 70 megabytes and will take about 15 minutes to
download on a fast connection.
Please go to the following page and download the
file "erosion.pps".
With very few exceptions, the Gulf beaches of Texas
are eroding with rates varying from a few feet per year to over 15 feet
per year. Construction of long jetties at major navigational
inlets has locked huge quantities of beach sand into permanent storage,
compartmentalizing the coast and starving down current beaches of sand,
while flood control and water supply dams on rivers that flow to the
Gulf have reduced the sand supply to Gulf beaches. Long term
shoreline retreat on most of Mustang Island and North Padre Island is 2
to 3 feet per year or more. These and other changes have
initiated irreversible erosion of our Texas Gulf of Mexico
beaches. Even without predicted sea level
rise this means that the shorelines will retreat 100 to 150 feet OR
MORE in the next 50 years. The 350 foot setback for new
construction proposed by Nueces County will prevent many future
problems by leaving a zone where new dunes can be artificially created
as the present dune line is eroded back. Without this, it will
not be long before major valuable buildings will be facing destruction
unless the shoreline is armored with seawalls, a very undesirable fix.
Web
Page to Protect the Natural Dune
Seawall at Port Aransas, Check for updates
Protect
the Natural Dune Seawall: Our First Line of Defense Against Hurricanes
was presented by Richard L. Watson, Ph.D. at The University
of
Texas Marine Science Institute on January 12, 2006. I am
available to present this talk to your group in the Coastal Bend.
Protect
the Natural Dune Seawall and Prevent Hurricane Destruction at Port
Aransas, Texas
Resume,
Richard L. Watson, Ph.D.
Recommendations
for Richard L. Watson, Ph.D.
Read
a wonderful article about Dr.
John Wesley (Wes) Tunnell, teacher, researcher and builder of
fine marine research institutions (Texas
Shores
magazine, winter 2006 issue)
