Monitoring Shoreline Erosion and Slope Stability Along Lake Michigan

Many different factors influence why and how a coast will erode away. These include the height of water level, the types and characteristics of the soil and bedrock along the shoreline, how well the soil is able to hold and transmit water, the average soil moisture content, and the range of temperature variations between the summer and winter seasons causing the freeze-thaw cycle.

This project specifically looks at the erosion and slope stability along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Erosion along Lake Michigan shoreline tends to increase during spring, most likely due to the freeze-thaw cycle. During warmer seasons water seeps into soils and through cracks in bedrock, which then freezes and expands during winter, making the slopes weak, and eventually leading to slope failure.

For this project, we are replicating the natural process of slope failure in a laboratory setting using sand and water, and calibrating a prototype multimodal monitoring device for measuring changes in temperature and soil moisture content for real-time analyses of water movement through sand in response to temperature changes. 

The goal of this project is to provide detailed monitoring data so residents along the Lake Michigan shoreline can take appropriate measures for protecting lives and for preventing property damage. This presentation will provide a general overview of the project, research design, experimental setup, results obtained to date, and future directions of this project.

Monday, September 20 at 3:00 pm         

Juk Bhattacharyya, Professor, Geology, Geography & Environmental Science