AN INVESTIGATION OF SEDIMENT TRANSPORT BEHIND THE TEXAS CITY DIKE

by Taylor, April

In 1915, the Texas City Dike was built to block the sediment from migrating into the Texas City ship channel. The Texas City Dike is proximal to the flood tidal delta of the Bolivar Roads entrance, and it appears that the Texas City Dike has the potential of trapping a large quantity of sand. For this study, it is hypothesized that the Texas City Dike is trapping significant volumes of sand. To test this hypothesis, we collected a series of short vibracores in January of 2005 along the north side of the dike, conducted a grain size analysis, and have analyzed the historical dredging records. In fact, this study confirmed the null hypothesis the Texas City Dike does not contain significant sand because the accommodation space where sand would be trapped has been used as a placement area for dredge spoils.