There appears to be the universal desire to be close to the watero 

 The land closest to the water Tis-ually has the greatest value. Very little 

 consideration of the maiy forces involved in such areas is shown, in fact 

 the dangers are not actually know), until the stability of the beach is up- 

 set by an attack of wind and Traves, 



The average engineer finds his interests far removed from the subject 

 of beach erosion until such times as he finds himself confronted with such 

 a problem^ however, the engineer whose field of learning includes oceano- 

 graphy, coastal geomorphology, geology j, meteor ology^ hydrology, soil 

 analysis and hydraulics, will find the study of shore phenomena a ra.ost 

 facinating and interesting subject* 



The accumulated thinking and experiments of many generations to resolve 

 the physical laws that govern the natural forces affecting the loss of the 

 land to the sea have provided a large amount of knowledge to be utilized by 

 the research engineer of today <, 



The importance of coastal phenomena in connection with studies of 

 beaches and marine structures has long been known to the Corps of Engineers, 

 particularly in the realm of river and harbor works, and it is agreed that 

 while considerable advancement has been noted during the last two decades, 

 the scientific study of beach erosion and shore protection is just now 

 coming into its own. 



Beach Erosion Board Problems 



The shore problems studied by the Beach Erosion Board fall into three 

 general categories; (1) problems of stabilization and rehabilitation of beach 

 areas (these are tJie problems of beach loss or damage that occasioned and 

 justified the establishment of the Board originally)^ (2) problems arising 

 from the effects on adjacent shore lines of tlB provision of navigation chan- 

 nels from the sea or lake into rivers and inlets^ (3) problem of shore con- 

 trol associated with harbor protective works. 



The activities of the Board during the past twenty years lead us to be- 

 lieve that the solution to these problems requires adequate knowledge of six 

 cardinal elements of the material supply, energy and economic factor© « These 

 are; 



lo The sources and character of the shore materialj 



2. The rates of supply and loss of shore material to and from the 



problem area j 

 3o The manner of movement of the shore material from the source 



to the beach and from the beach to other areasj 

 4-. The feasible methods of increasing the rate of supply to the 



shore or reducing the rate of loss of shore material from the 



shore; 

 5<. The design requirements of the feasible methods of modifying 



rates of supply and loss of shore material; 

 6. The economic cost of each feasible method of modificationo 



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