Sand Sources and Seabed Process of the Colorado River Delta

Summary

The focus of the study was to investigate the coast along the Colorado River conducting high-resolution seabed mapping, and determine the nature and magnitude of erosion of a delta front and track where the sand was going. The project has a powerful arsenal of equipment to attack this problem; a ship-based investigation using a multibeam seabed surface mapping system capable of decimeter-scale resolution, a side scan sonar, capable of resolution of bedforms and other surface features related to density contrasts and a subsurface imaging (CHIRP Seismic) system capable of decimeter-scale resolution with 20-100 meters of penetration into the seabed, depending on sediment type.  During the course of the survey, surface grab samples of the seabed will also be collected for calibration ground truthing purposes.  The results of this study are incorporated into a GIS product as theme overlays in a CD-ROM format for distribution.