Study on beach profile and sediment distribution of Bidong Island

Abstract

Study on beach profile changes and sediment distribution was conducted in Bidong Island off the coast of Terengganu in the South China Sea. The study was carried out on March and July 2010 in order to determine the recent beach slope and sediment characteristics and their relationship. Sampling was done in three different stations with total 20 transects points with 50 m interval between each transect. Total station TOPCON GPT-3000 had been used to measure beach profile. Meanwhile, moment method was used to calculate the sedimentological parameters. Based on the beach profile analysis, deposition mostly appeared in the lower part of the beach where the upper parts were eroded. Also, the beach gradient for these three stations showed weak trend of changes where small differences in the value of degree of slope. Majority station I, II and III were decreasing in the value of beach slopes during the second sampling. However, for sediment characteristics, the mean values showed that the beaches were covered with medium, coarse and very coarse grains. Decreasing of mean values indicates that the grains were getting coarser. The sediment sorting for the stations were in the range of well sorted, moderately well sorted, moderately sorted and poorly sorted. Increasing values of sorting indicates that those beaches were experienced poorly sorted of sediments.