THE GEOLOGIC CONTROL OF NEARSHORE BARS AND RIP CURRENTS

In this paper nearshore bar morphology will be examined. Nearshore bars are the accumulation of sand that run parallel to a coastline within a coastal environment. These bars migrate landward as they recover from a storm impact and migrate seaward in response to a storm. It is this bar behavior as they migrate through the bar cycle that creates hotspots of rip current activity along beaches. A rip current is a flow of seaward moving water originating in the nearshore near the water’s surface that are naturally occurring and an important geomorphic process in a beach system. It is the geologic control of nearshore bars along with other geological factors such as transverse ridges that create a rip current hazard which poses a hazard to swimmers in the water. By analyzing the geologic controls on rip currents and nearshore bars, more can be understood about the locations that they occur, their duration, persistence, and the precautions that can be taken to avoid drownings due to rip current formation.