Author(s): J. C. Morfett

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Abstract: For a significant proportion of the coast of southern England,beaches consistof a gravel bank,with sand extending seaward from the toe of the gravel.Atypical median particle size for the gravel along the Sussex coast is 18mm.However,this varies considerably from one stretch of coast to another.Thetoe of the gravel is usually exposed at lov tide.At lov tide the waves startto break offshore over the sand,formlng sp1lling breakers.As the tide risesthe break point moves inshore.When the water depth 1s sufflcient plungingbreakers generally form at the gravel bank,unless the weather is calm.Theflow field under a breaker is complex.The plunge itself can produce graveltransport by a combination of bedload and saltatlon.In the rest of the uprushand in the backwash,however,movement is mainly by bedload.There are fewdetailed field studies of gravel movement.To remedy this three studies havebeen undertaken along the Sussex coast betveen 1984 and 1990,and this paperpresents the results from the most recent of these。The study has focussed onfield measurements of the distribution of longshore and cro55-shore sedimenttransport across plunqing breakers,and on the productlon of a mathematicalmodel.The study occupied the period 1988-90.

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Year: 1991