Co The beaches developed by waves of low steepness had a re- 

 latively straight or smooth beach face with little separation taking 

 place between the foreshore beach and the offshore section, whereas, 

 for high wave steepness ratios, at least one or more offshore bars 

 were formed and the foreshore was at a steeper angle than that being 

 formed on the offshore bed, 



do The experiments indicate- for the range of angles tested, that 

 the transport rate is dependent upon the littoral current. Further, 

 the maximum rate of sand transport occurred where the value of the 

 littoral current reached a maximum value, namely at a 4-3° deep-water 

 angle, 



e„ As was found by other experimenters, despite appreciable 

 changes in wave characteristics there was no significant sand sorting 

 along the beach in the longitudinal direction. However, perpendicular 

 to the . beach the larger sand particles moved inshore with the fine 

 sediment being carried seaward. 



Recommendations 



In view of these exploratory experiments, which pertain to only 

 one sand size, further investigations are desirable to determine the 

 effect of sand size on the laws of transport. The experiments dis- 

 cussed in this report provide information on. the most desirable size 

 of wave tank for conducting future tests, namely a width of basin not 

 to exceed 1.5 to 20 feet and a length of basin which will depend on 

 the equilibrium slope of the finest material used in the tests. 

 Simultaneously with such tests, if not before, a fundamental investi- 

 gation should be made of the magnitude and character of the forces 

 acting on bed particles due to wave action as recommended under Item A 

 of Part II of this report, 



FIELD STUDIES OF S AND TRANSPORTATION BY WAVE. ACTION 



The Relationship Be tween S a nd Size and Beach Face Slope 



Introduction - Under the sponsorship of the Office of Naval Res- 

 earch and the Beach Erosion Board, a University of California. field 

 party visited and repeatedly surveyed some 4-0 beaches on the Pacific 

 Coast of the U, S„ in the years "1944 to 194-8 , These beaches ranged 

 from southern California to northern Washington and included steep 

 and flat beaches under winter and summer conditions and in high and 

 lov, surf o Details of beach conditions from the dunes to beyond the 

 breaker zone were surveyed and noted| sand samples were taken at many 

 pointS| the effect of surf conditions on each beach was recorded} 

 and an elaborate program of breaker measurements was conducted, A 

 total of about 500 profiles (from dunes to minus 30 feetj were made 

 and over 600 sand samples were taken in the course of these investi- 

 gations. With its irregularities, the U„ S, Pacific Coast is thousands 

 of miles long and quite probably includes most of the possible ocean 

 beach conditions and configurations. 



