BEACH NOURISHMENT ON HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

This paper investigates the intricacies of beach nourishment, specifically on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Beach nourishment is a type of soft coastal protection. The purpose of beach nourishment is to advance the shoreline and to mitigate shoreline recession. During beach nourishment there is a placement of large quantities of compatible sand in the littoral zone of the beach. The construction of beach nourishment is complicated and complex due to the fact that it tries to maintain a naturally appearing beach. Specifically on Hilton Head Island there have been three major beach nourishment projects; 1990, 1997, and 2006/2007. In this paper the three projects’ characteristics were compared and contrasted. Over the twenty years that beach nourishment projects have been occurring on Hilton Head Island there are many similarities, but changes have occurred including the extent of the projects and changes in borrow sites. Now that beach nourishment has occurred at Hilton Head Island it is necessary to continue projects beach nourishment projects every seven to ten years to prevent the beach from eroding away.