Natural barriers, sandbars . . . . don't ignore their beauty and function

Wikimedia

Why should it matter that our Braddock Bay has a strong sandbar at its mouth, strengthened 100 years ago by the Manitou Trolley foundation?  Look at Japan's two-mile-long Amanohashidate sandbar on Miyazo Bay, a dynamically-stable sandbar. Considered a national treasure, the sandbar continues to be stable over the tens of centuries. A spit such as Braddock Bay's 'Westspit" is defined as a 'deposition landform' - connecting to a head and one end and a 'nose' at the other, it is formed when longshore drifting [or littoral drift] waves meet the beach at an oblique angle moving sand along in a zigzag pattern.  Braddock Bay's Westspit is a beautiful phenomenon.  Channel markers and a dredged channel permit vessels access. NYS's DEC agrees: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24428.html 

NOTE: the older sandbar has closed off the mouth of several ponds. Braddock Bay is the only one left with healthy hydrology.  Photographer David Beadling has caught the Bay perfectly: http://www.braddockbaygallery.com/braddockbay.htm


Scientists have intensely studied shoreline morphology [form and structure]: "Sandbars play an important role in beach stability since they reduce the energy of waves by breaking them, thereby preventing severe erosion . . . such dynamically stable sandbars effectively contribute to disaster mitigation . . . ." American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2013, abstract #EP13A-0826