SAND RESOURCES ON THE INNER CONTINENTAL SHELF 

 OF THE CAPE MAY REGION, NEW JERSEY 



'by 



Edward P. Meisburger and S. Jeffress Williams 



I . INTRODUCTION 



1. Background . 



Initial restoration and periodic renourishment of beaches and dunes by 

 placement of suitable sand along the shoreline is an effective means of counter- 

 acting coastal erosion and of enhancing recreational facilities (U.S. Army, 

 Corps of Engineers, Coastal Engineering Research Center, 1977). In recent years, 

 it has become increasingly difficult to obtain large volumes of suitable sand 

 from lagoons and inland sources for beach nourishment because of economic and 

 ecological factors. Accordingly, the Coastal Engineering Research Center (CERC) 

 initiated an Inner Continental Shelf Sediment and Structure (ICONS) study pro- 

 gram to locate and describe offshore sand resources suitable for beach nourish- 

 ment. This report, a result of that effort, deals with the location and physical 

 characteristics of offshore sand resources near Cape May, New Jersey. 



2. Study Location and Data Coverage . 



The ICONS study area comprises a 27.8- by 44.5-kilometer region of sea floor 

 lying to the south and southeast of Cape May, New Jersey (Fig. 1). Data coverage 

 in this area consists of 1,258 kilometers of seismic reflection surveys and 104 

 sediment cores ranging from 1 to 3.7 meters in length (Fig. 2). These data were 

 supplemented by National Ocean Survey (NOS) hydrographic chart data. 



This report is primarily the result of a reconnaissance effort; seismic line 

 spacing and core density are not detailed enough for precise delineation of 

 borrow sites. Consequently, more detailed study of promising locales identified 

 in this report will be needed before specific borrow sites are identified for 

 use in project design and construction. 



3. Regional Setting and Sea Floor Morphology . 



The study area, located at the southern end of the New Jersey coast within 

 the New York Bight (longitude 75°02'30" to 74°30" W. and latitude 39° to 38°46' 

 N.), is part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain province of eastern North America. 

 The area is bounded to the north by Cape May peninsula, a headland section of 

 the New Jersey coast, and to the west by the low-lying Delaware coast and the 

 Delaware River shelf channel as defined by the 18.3-meter (60 feet) depth con- 

 tour in Figure 1. The region surveyed covers about 1,166 square kilometers of 

 the Inner Continental Shelf extending from the Cape May shoreface seaward to 

 depths of about 37 meters (120 feet) . 



The coast of New Jersey can be divided basically into two physiographic 

 parts. The northern part from Monmouth Beach to near Bay Head is a headland 

 where older coastal deposits are in direct contact with the sea. The central 

 part of the coast, including Sandy Hook spit protruding into New York harbor, 

 is composed of low-lying sandy barrier islands and spits backed by shallow la- 

 goons. The barriers are fairly continuous except for nine tidal inlets, and 



