ABSTRACT 



Storms and increased habitation on barrier islands have reduced the 

 height and width of dunes on the Texas Coast, thereby exposing it to the 

 surges and waves produced by tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico. 



This publication reports on experimental means of creating and sta- 

 bilizing sand dunes to protect the coast. Four locations were selected; 

 the SW end of Galveston Island, Packery Channel, Newport Pass on North 

 Padre Island and Corpus Christi Pass. 



Low areas of the barrier islands were planted in various types of 

 vegetative cover in an attempt to establish dunes without the aid of sand 

 fences. Snow fencing was used to accumulate windblown sand and vegeta- 

 tive planting made to stabilize dunes. Junk car bodies were placed in 

 line parallel to beaches and used instead of more conventional means to 

 establish and stabilize dunes by trapping sand. 



Since snow fences are more effective and much cheaper, junk cars are 

 not recommended for building dunes. 



FOREWORD 



CERC has a program to collect data to enable coastal engineers to 

 stabilize existing dunes and to build artificial ones as protective 

 structures. This paper is published to give wider dissemination to 

 significant information on dune "growing". 



The sand dune experiments and data collections were conducted by 

 the author, Bard 0. Gage, a planning engineering in the Coastal Studies 

 Section of the Galveston District, Corps of Engineers. 



At the time of publication, Lieutenant Colonel Edward M. Willis 

 was Director of the Center; Joseph M. Caldwell was Technical Director. 



NOTE: Comments on this publication are invited. Discussion will be 

 published in the next issue of the CERC Bulletin. 



This report is published under authority of Public Law 166, 79th 

 Congress, approved July 31, 1945, as supplemented by Public Law 172, 

 88th Congress, approved November 7, 1963. 



