Sediment tracing specialist Partrac has been assisting academic staff and researchers from Mississippi State University to implement a beach sediment tracking study on Deer Island, the closest barrier island to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The study was commissioned and funded by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources’ (DMR) Mississippi Tidelands Trust Fund Program.
It is being undertaken to examine and better understand pathways of alongshore sediment transport, the rate of movement, and predominant direction on the foreshore of the sensitive Deer Island Mississippi Coastal Preserve, which is an official DMR Gulf Ecological Management Site (GEMS).
Dr Anna Linhoss of MSU’s hydroecology laboratory, said: “ The study is being conducted as part of a wider effort to improve our understanding of sand erosion and deposition in the MS Gulf Coast.”
“We are undertaking this initial sand tracking study for the purposes of model calibration and validation, and to feed into the wider objective of restoring the integrity of the sand transport system along the region’s coastline.”
Partrac’s role in the project was to assist with study design, deployment of their proprietary dual signature tracer material at the site, and subsequent sampling and analyses efforts.
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