Just Cerfing Vol. 7, Issue 8, August 2016 Volume 5, Issue 4, April, 2014 | Page 6

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Prograding Headland Beaches along the Southern Coast of Lake Erie
generate significant wave heights up to ~2.0 m and current conditions that
allow only the coarsest sediments to sequester along the high-energy southern Lake Erie coastline (Kang, Sheng, and Lick, 1982; Khandekar and Swail,
1995). Shoreline and nearshore regions here are extremely sediment deprived,
and only thin, patchy veneers of sand and gravel are found covering bedrock
exposures (Fuller, 1996; Figure 1b). The absence of substantial nearshoresediment budgets is attributed largely to low clastic riverine input (Ohio Department of Natural Resources, 2007). Sediments along southern Lake Erie
beaches and nearshore regions are instead derived predominantly from the
erosion of proximal bluff shorelines (Carter, Benson, and Guy, 1981; Foyle
and Naber, 2012; Kemp, MacInnis, and Harper, 1977; Pincus, 1953). Localized shore sections along this sediment-limited lake margin have nonetheless
prograded by several hundred meters since the area was settled by Europeans.
These coastal areas of net growth are situated on the stoss side (i.e. updrift)
of shore-perpendicular hard structures installed alongside harbor channels in
the early 1900s (Morang, Mohr, and Forgette, 2011). In total, 16 harbors are
situated along the ~300-km-long Ohio Lake Erie coastline, most of which are
protected from waves and currents by rock jetties, some extending lakeward
by over 2 km.
Research along the south-central coast of Lake Erie has focused largely on
bluff erosion, and little is known about depositional harbor headlands and
their sediment dynamics. This study addresses the twentieth-century evolution of Ohio’s two largest harbor headlands in an effort to elucidate the
influences of fluctuating lake levels, drought, and changes in winter-ice covers on sediment production at bluff shorelines, along-shore transport, and
headland beach dynamics. The following sections introduce studied headland
beaches and detail their geologic framework, the hydrodynamic properties of
the south-central Lake Erie margin, and inferred climate influences on bluff
and beach evolution.

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Figure 1. Study area maps showing: (a) studied headlands with respect to the Great
Lakes system, (b) the position of the two studied headlands along the NE Ohio Lake
Erie shoreline with nearshore-surface geology displayed in different shade patterns
(with legend), (c) a hillshade model of the Fairport Harbor headland lacking vertical exaggeration and highlighting/annotating key features (i.e. breakwaters, shorelines, etc.), and (d) a hillshade model of the Ashtabula headland area lacking vertical
exaggeration and highlighting/annotating similar key features.

Just Cerfing Vol. 5, Issue 4, April 2014

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