Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Kelp Mediated Clast Movement



I shot this video at the base of Ediz Hook in 15' of water a few days ago. The current was an estimated 0.4 to 0.5 m/s, and I was struck at the movement of these kelp/clast combinations ripping by. How big of a factor is this in moving material around the Elwha coastal zone?
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1 comment:

Gravel Beach said...

Cool. I guess we knew sort of knew that kelp could drag gravel around, but I'd never seen it really happening - except maybe in the swash zone. It would be interesting to try to estimate how much material might get moved - and whether the pattern of movement is predictable.

You know those boulders that wander mysteriously around dry lake beds in the Mojave (e.g. Racetrack Playa)? Now we've got another possible theory...

September 15, 2009 at 6:47 PM

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