Miami Beach Is Out of Sand, Bahamas Sand to Fill Void

by Adam

Miami Beach is completely out of sand! This of course is not a new development, for years the barrier island has been using reclaimed sand just offshore to replenish the sand that erodes away each year. However, the seabed off Miami is now out of sand as well, forcing officials to look for new sand sources. The Verge has an awesome article on the state of Miami Beach as well as the 825 miles of Florida beaches that have been declared “critically eroding”. Filling in that sand isn’t an easy task either:

Forget about the thousands of miles of dunes in the Sahara and Gobi — rounded by wind, those grains are too smooth. Sand made by crushing rock is too jagged. If the grains are too small, they wash away quickly; too large, and the beach becomes a steep bank. If they’re the wrong density or wrong shape — say, plate-like shards of broken shells — they’ll float in the water, causing clouds. If the sand is too dark it will trap heat, and can shift the gender of sea turtles born there.

Currently, sand from a mine one hundred miles north is trucked to the Fontainebleau parking lot before it’s eventually placed on the shores and the beach. Miami is also looking to the Bahamas, with the nearest island only 50 miles away and full of “perfect beach sand”.

The article is fascinating, take a read here.

w-sbeach

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1 comment

Charles December 4, 2016 - 8:32 pm

I was not aware that the Fontainebleau hotel had a parking lot and I suspect this info is wrong. There is a limit to free and false PR, has the fontainebleau already made claim to nearby public properties and renamed them to match the Hotel’s new spelling?
There IS a project to replace lost sand in the area and the staging area is a Miami Beach owned public parking area at 46th street, adjacent to the world reknown Mimosa Condominiums.

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