Newly planted vegetation on coastal sand dunes can accelerate erosion from extreme waves, a study involving researchers from the Oregon State University College of Engineering suggests.
The authors note the findings run counter to the widely accepted paradigm that vegetation always acts to reduce erosion on dunes, the first line of storm defense for landscapes that are among the world’s most ecologically important and economically valuable.
The experiments involved building beach dune profiles 70 meters long and 4.5 meters high and subjecting them to storm waves in a 104-meter-long flume at OSU’s O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory.
Researchers spent six months growing coastal switchgrass, a common dune plant known scientifically as Panicum amarum, within the flume before beginning wave testing.
Read More: Oregon State University
OSU College of Engineering researchers at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory found that dunes with newly planted vegetation scarped faster than bare dunes. Photo provided by Meagan Wengrove, CoE. (Photo Credit: OSU College of Engineering)