Sediment Budget for the Indiana Shore from Michigan City Harbor to Burns Waterway Harbor
Abstract
Net sediment transport in the littoral cell extending from Michigan City Harbor to Burns Waterway Harbor, IN, is from east to west. For the four decades following construction of the harbor (approximately 1966-2010), net littoral transport averaged about 194,000 yd(exp 3)/year (115,000 + 79,000). Of this amount, accumulation in the fillet east of the Arcelor-Mittal (formerly Bethlehem Steel) bulkhead was about 115,000 yd(exp 3)/year. These results are based on analysis of cross-shore beach profiles, reprocessed from paper records and electronic files. Dredging from the NIPSCO Bailly Generating Station cooling water intake was 79,000 yd(exp 3)/year (2,366,000 yd3 30 years). The total transport calculated in this study is higher than most published previous estimates. The volume of sediment now bypassing the lakeward end of the bulkhead and entering the Federal harbor is estimated to be 86,000 yd(exp 3)/year. This value is based on the proportion of the active zone beyond the lakeward (northern) end of the Arcelor-Mittal bulkhead (194,000 0.443). This value will have to be confirmed with dredging statistics in the future. A ship grounding in April, 2012, demonstrated that the approach channel east of Burns Waterway Harbor is significantly shallower than shown on hydrographic charts. This supports the hypothesis that significant sand is bypassing the lakeward end of the Arcelor-Mittal bulkhead rather than being trapped in the fillet. An average of 73,000 yd(exp 3)/year of sand has been placed west of Portage/Burns Waterway (Burns Ditch) (1,829,000 total from both the fillet and the Portage/Burns Waterway 25 years). Most sand has been placed in shallow water offshore of the town of Ogden Dunes, and some was placed directly on the beach at the National Park Service Portage Lakefront Park property. Full bypassing needs to be about three times this amount if it is to match the longshore transport value of 194,000 yd(exp 3)/year.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA565699
Entities
People
- Andrew Morang
- Ashley E. Frey
- David F. Bucaro
- Jeff A. Fuller
- Sara Brodzinsky
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center