Feeder Bluffs

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Salish Sea References

• Watershed Characterization Mapper
• The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
• PRISM Project Search
• Washington Coastal Atlas
• WDFW's Salmonscape Map

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Feeder Bluffs are the name given to the portions of shoreline where there is historical or current evidence that erosion and slope failure contributes sediment to the beach, when is then entrained in the littoral drift cells of Beaches. Shoreline Armoring is used by shoreline landowners to deflect wave energy and prevent erosion, reducinh sedument input and resilience under Sea Level Rise. Protecting feeder bluff function has become a focus of Shoreline Management and Acquisition.

Notes

• File:Shipman 2008 puget sound landform.pdf describes bluff-backed beaches, including both feeder bluffs, as well as low bank beaches, and beaches with little evidence of erosion.
• The Feeder Bluff Mapping effort created initial mapping of feeder bluffs, to improve on the bluff-backed beach.
• File:MacLennan et al 2017 beach strategies phase one summary.pdf completing work for Coastal Geologic Services differentiated between feeder bluffs and exceptional feeder bluffs in their update of the PSNERP data set.
• Dethier et al 2016 impacts of armoring established a link between shoreline armoring and loss of sediment supply and coarsening of beach texture and increased beach slope.

Questions

• Within a given beach, what proportion of sediment is provided by drift cells as compared to creeks and rivers, or post-glacial deposits.
• What level of feeder bluff armoring results in change in beach ecosystems over what time period.

facts or skills acquired by a person through experience or education.

particles of clay, silt, sand, gravel, or cobble, transported by water, are called sediment.

a beach backed by a bluff, indicating opportunity for waves to recruit sediment