BEACH BRCSION STUDIES 



Beach erosion control studies of specific localities are usually 

 made by the Corps of Engineers in cooperation with appropriate agencies 

 of the various States by authority of Section 2 of the River and Harbor 

 Act approved 3 July 1930. By executive ruling the costs of these 

 studies are divided equally between the United States and the coopera- 

 ting agencies. Information concerning the initiation of a cooperative 

 study may be obtained from any District or Division Engineer of the 

 Corps of Engineers. After a report on a cooperative study has been 

 transmitted to Congress, a summary thereof is included in the next 

 issue of this Bulletin. Summaries of reports transmitted to Congress 

 since the last issue of the Bulletin and lists of completed and author- 

 ized cooperative studies follow, 



SUMMARIES GP REPORTS TRANSMirTBD TO CONGRESS 



SOUTH KINGSTOWN AND WESTERLY. RHODE ISLAND 



The purpose of the investigation was to determine the most suitable 

 method of restoring and stabilizing the shores of Matunuck Beach in 

 South Kingstown and Misquamicut Beach in Westerly, Rhode Island. The 

 study areas comprise the Block Island Sound shores of Rhode Island at 

 Matunuck in South Kingstown and from Weekapaug Inlet to Watch Hill in 

 westerly. The shore frontage studied has a length of about 1.3 miles 

 at Matunuck and about 5 miles in Westerly. The shores in South Kingstown 

 and Westerly are developed for summer residential use. The permanent 

 population of South Kingstown and Westerly are respectively about 10,000 

 and 12,000. These populations are about doubled in the summer. The 

 shore of the problem area at Matunuck Beach, about 3,830 feet long, is 

 owned by the State of Rhode Island, and the town of Westerly proposed to 

 acquire a stretch of shore about 3,250 feet long at Misquamicut Beach. 

 Block Island Sound is a relatively open tidal arm of the Atlantic Ocean. 

 Tides are semi-diurnal, the mean range decreasing from 3.1 feet at 

 Point Judith to 2.5 feet at Watch Hill, the west limit of the study area. 

 The spring ranges are respectively 3.9 and 3.1 feet. The maximum tide 

 of record was about 12 feet above mean sea level. Tides 2.5 feet or 

 more above mean high water occur about once a year. Ocean swells 

 entering Block Island Sound affect the shores of the study areas. The 

 waves having greatest energy are those from the southeast quadrant. 

 The shore at Matunuck Beach is sheltered from those waves by the break- 

 waters of Point Judith Harbor with the result that waves from the 

 southwest quadrant cause an eastward predominance of littoral drift 

 and accretion west of the west breakwater. Minor accretion in the 

 westerly portion of the Weekapaug Inlet-Watch Hill reach indicates a 

 slight net westward littoral drift in that area. The south shore of 

 Rhode Island is characterized by headlands of unconsolidated glaci^al 

 material with minor rocky outcrops. Wave-built barrier beaches have 

 formed but the headlands which formerly supplied material to the 



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