j . Skewness . Surface sediments at all transect stations had an 

 average skewness of -0.085 (Table 9) and were classified as nearly 

 symmetrical (Table 4). The range of values from transect stations 

 varied from -0.468 to +0.297. Almost 50 percent of the stations 

 occurred in the skewness bracket of -0.30 and -0.10 and, therefore, 

 were coarsely skewed; 27 percent of the stations were classified as 

 symmetrical (Fig. 19). 



The average of all samples taken at each of the five transect 

 stations ranged from +0.018 at station 1 to -0.270 at station 5. 

 Sediments changed from nearly symmetrical in the swash zone to more 

 coarsely skewed as distance from shore increased at the five stations 

 on each transect (Table 12). Sediments at stations A and B were also 

 classified as coarsely skewed (Table 13) . 



The average skewness values on each of the nine transects ranged 

 from -0.036 to -0.146. Values on transects 5, 6, and 7 were classified 

 as nearly symmetrical; the remaining transects had average values that 

 were classified as coarsely skewed (Table 14) . 



k. Kurtosis . The average kurtosis at all transect stations was 

 1.043 (Table 9), and was classified as mesokurtic (Table 5). The 

 range of all values from transect stations varied from 0.584 to 2.026. 

 Over 41 percent of the stations had sediments classified as lepto- 

 kurtic; almost 32 percent were mesokurtic, and nearly 26 percent 

 platykurtic (Fig. 20). 



The averages of all samples at each of the five transect stations 

 ranged from 0.923 at station 2 to 1.100 at station 1 (Table 12). The 

 average values at each of the five transect stations were classified 

 as mesokurtic, with sediments at station 2 tending more toward 

 platykurtic. The average kurtosis of sediments at stations A and B 

 were classified as leptokurtic (Table 13) . 



The average kurtosis on each of the nine transects ranged from 

 0.999 to 1.088. Sediments on transects 1, 2, and 3 tended more toward 

 platykurtic than on the remaining transects (Table 14) . 



IV. BENTHIC FAUNA 



1 . Introduction . 



The abundance and diversity of the benthic invertebrates in this 

 near shore zone are a measure of the quality of the benthic environment. 

 Determination of the faunal characteristics of this environment is 

 required before beach restoration takes place to determine the effects 

 of removing sand from offshore and creating a new beach. 



44 



