Patterns and processes of beach and foredune geomorphic change along a Great Lakes shoreline: Insights from a year-long drone mapping study along Lake Michigan

Shore & Beach ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 46-55
Author(s):  
Ethan Theuerkauf ◽  
C. Robin Mattheus ◽  
Katherine Braun ◽  
Jenny Bueno
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Sandy Beach ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Coastal Change ◽  
Dune System ◽  
Western Shore ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Topography Data

Coastal storms are an important driver of geomorphic change along Great Lakes shorelines. While there is abundant anecdotal evidence for storm impacts in the region, only a handful of studies over the last few decades have quantified them and addressed system morphodynamics. Annual to seasonal lake-level fluctuations and declining winter-ice covers also influence coastal response to storms, yet relationships between hydrodynamics and geomorphology are poorly constrained. Given this, the Great Lakes region lags behind marine coasts in terms of predictive modeling of future coastal change, which is a necessary tool for proactive coastal management. To help close this gap, we conducted a year-long study at a sandy beach-dune system along the western shore of Lake Michigan, evaluating storm impacts under conditions of extremely high water level and absent shorefast ice. Drone-derived beach and dune topography data were used to link geomorphic changes to specific environmental conditions. High water levels throughout the year of study facilitated erosion during relatively minor wave events, enhancing the vulnerability of the system to a large storm in January 2020. This event occurred with no shorefast ice present and anomalously high winter water levels, resulting in widespread erosion and overwash. This resulted in 20% of the total accretion and 66% of the erosion documented at the site over the entire year. Our study highlights the importance of both antecedent and present conditions in determining Great Lakes shoreline vulnerability to storm impacts.

Aztalan and the Northern Tier of a Cahokia Hinterland

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Illinois River ◽  
Great Lakes Region ◽  
Upper Great Lakes ◽  
Illinois River Valley ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Western Shore ◽  
Central Illinois

Cahokia’s northern hinterland can be conceptualized as extending north from the central Illinois River valley into the western and upper Great Lakes region. The northern tier of this hinterland can be thought of as a region north of the Apple River area of northwest Illinois and south of a line extending east from the mouth of the St. Croix River to the western shore of Lake Michigan. This area includes a wide range of landscapes, biotas, and cultures and this diversity is mirrored in the Cahokia-related manifestations found throughout the region. This chapter provides a brief comparison of three northern tier sites/complexes including Trempealeau, Fred Edwards, and Aztalan in order to highlight the diversity of Mississippian-related occupations in the area.

scholarly journals Glacial Isostatic Adjustment of the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin: Using the Empirical Record of Strandline Deformation for Reconstruction of Early Holocene Paleo-Lakes and Discovery of a Hydrologically Closed Phase*

2007 ◽  
Vol 59 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 187-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.F. Michael Lewis ◽  
Steve M. Blasco ◽  
Pierre L. Gareau
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Response Surface ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
Vertical Motion ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Great Lakes Basin ◽  
Isostatic Adjustment ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Elevation Model

Abstract In the Great Lakes region, the vertical motion of crustal rebound since the last glaciation has decelerated with time, and is described by exponential decay constrained by observed warping of strandlines of former lakes. A composite isostatic response surface relative to an area southwest of Lake Michigan beyond the limit of the last glacial maximum was prepared for the complete Great Lakes watershed at 10.6 ka BP (12.6 cal ka BP). Uplift of sites computed using values from the response surface facilitated the transformation of a digital elevation model of the present Great Lakes basins to represent the paleogeography of the watershed at selected times. Similarly, the original elevations of radiocarbon-dated geomorphic and stratigraphic indicators of former lake levels were reconstructed and plotted against age to define lake level history. A comparison with the independently computed basin outlet paleo-elevations reveals a phase of severely reduced water levels and hydrologically-closed lakes below overflow outlets between 7.9 and 7.0 ka BP (8.7 and 7.8 cal ka BP) in the Huron-Michigan basin. Severe evaporative draw-down is postulated to result from the early Holocene dry climate when inflows of meltwater from the upstream Agassiz basin began to bypass the upper Great Lakes basin.

scholarly journals Establishing Climate Change Resilience in the Great Lakes in Response to Flooding

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwendolyn E Gallagher ◽  
Ryan K Duncombe ◽  
Timothy M Steeves
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
High Water ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Freshwater Resource

Over the past decade, both the average rainfall and the frequency of high precipitation storm events in the Great Lakes Basin have been steadily increasing as a consequence of climate change. In this same period, cities and communities along the coasts are experiencing record high water levels and severe flooding events (ECC Canada et al. 2018). When cities are unprepared for these floods, the safety of communities and the water quality of the Great Lakes are jeopardized. For example, coastal flooding increases runoff pollution and contaminates the freshwater resource that 40 million people rely on for drinking water (Lyandres and Welch 2012, Roth 2016). Since the Great Lakes are shared between two nations, the United States and Canada, the region is protected by several international treaties and national compacts, including the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). In order to increase climate change resiliency against flooding in the region, we recommend the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work with Environment and Climate Change Canada to relocate the GLRI under the GLWQA in order to guarantee consistent funding and protection efforts. We additionally recommend expansion of both agreements in their scope and long-term commitments to engender cooperative efforts to protect the Great Lakes against climate change.

scholarly journals DESIGN, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION OF A WAVE WALL FOR NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

2018 ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Alejandra Lira-Pantoja ◽  
Margaret Boshek
Keyword(s):  
Architectural Design ◽  
Sandy Beach ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
High Water ◽  
Wave Forces ◽  
Large Wave ◽  
Northwestern University ◽  
Urban Campus ◽  
The University ◽  
Coastal Land

Northwestern University sits on prime Lake Michigan real estate in Evanston, Illinois, north of Chicago . Needing to make the most of their landlocked urban campus, the university planned to build a new athletics center on coastal land extending onto a sandy beach. Because the design process occurred after a number of years of low water, architects designed the state-of-the-art building extremely close to the lake’s ordinary high water mark without understanding the historic dynamics of the lake. With the architectural design already completed, SmithGroupJJR’s coastal engineers were asked to perform a rigorous review of the site and potential wave conditions. They determined that the building would be subject to large wave forces and foundation erosion if left unprotected, and designed a reflecting wave wall integrated into and wrapped around the lakeside of the building.

scholarly journals VARIATION IN GREAT LAKES LEVELS IN RELATION TO ENGINEERING PROBLEMS

2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
W. E. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Lake Levels ◽  
Water Demands ◽  
Property Owners ◽  
Engineering Problems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Conflicting Interests

Throughout the recorded history of the Great Lakes, the fluctuation in their water levels has created engineering problems generally unique in relation to coastal engineering. In periods of low water, demands are heard from navigation and power interests to raise the levels. In periods of high water appeals are made by shore property owners to lower the levels. Such conflicting interests present major engineering problems, the nature of which during a given period of time reflect the long-range upward and downward trend in lake levels due to natural phenomena.

scholarly journals PROPERTIES OF LONGSHORE BARS IN THE GREAT LAKES

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Saylor ◽  
Edward B. Hands
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Incident Wave ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Sediment Properties ◽  
Abrupt Changes ◽  
The Stability

Longshore bars are permanent features of nearshore bathymetry along the windward coasts of the Great Lakes The stability and permanency of these features have been noted by numerous investigators, but movements of the bars and troughs vn relation to varying lake levels and incident wave energies are not fully understood Studies of nearshore bathymetry and sediment properties were conducted during 1967 and 1969 along a forty-five kilometer reach of the eastern coast of Lake Michigan Results show that the offshore bars migrate significantly due to changes in lake level, a rise of one-half meter in the surface of Lake Michigan between 1967 and 1969 was accompanied by a shoreward movement of bar crests and troughs over a distance averaging SO meters Elevations of the crests and troughs are also built upward toward new equiblibrium levels during rising water levels, but elevating of the crests lags the increase in stage Extensive shore erosion occurs because of the reduced effectiveness of longshore bars in dissipating incident wave energy The average crest depth was found to increase linearly in the offshore direction Average distances between crests increase exponentially These relationships are preserved during the bar growth and shifting that accompanies long term changes in lake level Bar troughs are characteristically crescent shaped, with no abrupt changes in slope Fathograms from several ranges show atypical trough configurations consisting of flat bottoms with discontinuities in slope on ascent to adoacent crests This unusual trough shape is indicative of an immobile stratum exposed along the bottom of the trough.

GLACIAL BLUFF LANDSLIDES, LAKE MICHIGAN: A RESPONSE TO HIGH WATER LEVELS, PRECIPITATION, AND WIND STORMS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Kincare ◽  
◽  
Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy ◽  
Richard Becker ◽  
John A. Yellich
Keyword(s):  
Lake Michigan ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Wind Storms

scholarly journals Productivity of Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, Nesting on Natural and Artificial Structures in the Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, 1991-2001

2005 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Martin ◽  
Shane R. De Solla ◽  
Peter J. Ewins ◽  
Michael E. Barker
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Pandion Haliaetus ◽  
Great Lakes Basin ◽  
South Central ◽  
Utility Poles ◽  
Nesting Sites ◽  
Breeding Seasons

Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) declined throughout the Great Lakes basin during the 1950s to 1970s due to usage of organochlorine pesticides. Following the banning of DDT in 1972, artificial elevated nest structures were erected in the Kawartha Lakes region of south-central Ontario to aid in their recovery. As the population grew, large stumps of flooded trees, < 1 m above the surface of the water became important nesting sites, despite their propensity to flood in turbulent weather conditions. We compared the productivity of Ospreys among nest substrates and longevity of the nests in this area from 1991 to 2001. Of 260 individual nesting attempts made over the 11 years, 57% used man-made structures, primarily either quadrupod nesting platforms or utility poles. Of nests on natural substrates, stump nests accounted for 37% of total nesting attempts; elevated tree nests were relatively uncommon (6%). Productivity of stump nests was significantly greater than that of artificial or tree nests (1.48 versus 1.16 and 0.73 chicks produced per occupied nest, respectively). Nevertheless, survivorship of stump nests was less than that of platform nests after 3 years of age, as high water levels, storms or winter ice activity destroyed some of these low nests between breeding seasons. Ospreys were able to attain greater productivity in these stump nests than on man-made nesting substrates.

scholarly journals ARTIFICIAL BEACH UNITS ON LAKE MICHIGAN

1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (21) ◽  
pp. 211
Author(s):  
K.J. MacIntosh ◽  
C.D. Anglin
Keyword(s):  
Lake Michigan ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Model Studies ◽  
Shoreline Protection ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Prototype Experience ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Main Component ◽  
Engineering Projects

High water levels on Lake Michigan during 1985 and 1986 created substantial erosion of the shoreline and reduced the size and recreational potential of many of the parks and beaches. To prevent further erosion, protect existing properties and structures, and to create and improve recreational areas along the Lake Michigan shoreline, four coastal engineering projects were designed and constructed during this time. Artificial beach units stabilized by offshore breakwaters were used as the main component of each project. Physical hydraulic model studies were used to determine the orientation, size, and spacing of breakwaters and artificial beach units. Model predictions of beach profiles and plan shapes compare closely with prototype surveys. Surveys completed since construction demonstrate the stability of the beaches and support their use as effective, low maintenance shoreline protection. Prototype experience has shown that these projects are extremely successful both in their ability to withstand storms on the Great Lakes and to attract people for recreational activities.

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