Recent erosion in the San Gabriel Mountains

Abstract

Recently the Environmental Quality Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and the Shore Processes Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography have undertaken a joint project to study the natural sediment budget in coastal southern California. This budget includes inland erosion which under natural conditions provides sand sized material to nourish the beaches along the shoreline. The San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles are an important natural source of sand for beach nourishment. However, the intense urbanization along the base of these mountains have required the advent of extensive flood control structures which significantly reduce the natural transport of sediments from this geomorphic unit to the shoreline.