OBSERVATIONS MADE ON KARENTES BEACH 



by 

 Professor W. W. Williams & Miss C.AX King 



FOREWORD 



The following is a technical note appearing in 

 the Information Bulletin of the Comite Central 

 D'Oeeanographie et 3'Etuds Des Cotes of December 

 I95O5 reporting work done by Professor Wo W. Williams 

 of Cambridge University and his associate Miss C.A.M. 

 King in August 1950. The original technical note has 

 been translated and briefed, the principal omissions 

 being data on the observations made with respect to 

 waves and winds and a daily account of the behavior 

 of the beach . The Beach Erosion Board was fortunate 

 in having the opportunity to be host to Professor 

 Williams for a period of several weeks during the 

 late days of World War II , at which time Professor 

 Williams' interest in offshore bars resulted in many 

 stimulating discussions between himself , the staff 

 of the Board , and Dr. Go H. Keulegan. 



Karentes Beach is situated in the Gulf of Lion to the west, of 

 Sete . In this region the coast is oriented approximately northeast- 

 southwest, and is constituted by a low beach of fine sand, (median 

 diameter of 0.30 mm), backed by low dunes situated about 300 feet 

 from the mean sea level shore line. The amplitude of the tide is 

 very small and probably does not exceed about J foot. On such a 

 beach it should be possible for submarine sand bars to form and 

 they should be of a simple type since they are formed without com- 

 plications due to tides and or the abnormal tidal currents occurr- 

 ing in the neighborhood of headlands or the mouths of rivers. 

 Currents parallel to the coast are habitually weak and we have been 

 able to observe that at any moment they were uniquely a function of 

 the predominant land at the site. 



Figure 1 shows the profile of the beach, to a depth of approx- 

 imately 20 feet s as it existed during the last three summers. It 

 will be noted that there is a large bar situated between 630 and 830 

 feet from the water line and that the form of the bar remains re- 

 markably constant although the bar itself was displaced as much as 



19 



