Longshore sediment transport pattern along the Romanian Danube delta coast

Measurements of shoreline change between 1962 and 1987 were used to construct a sediment budget and to derive net longshore sediment transport rates for the Romanian Danube delta coast. The resulting pattern was in good agreement with the potential longshore transport pattern predicted by the wave energy flux based on wave measurements between 1972 and 1981. Due to the general coast orientation, the longshore sand transport is almost unidirectional southwardly all year long. Hence estimates for the net longshore transport were as high as high 2,350,000 m³/year. Because of this high intensity longshore transport and also due to a reduction of Danube sediment and the interruption of longshore transport by shore-perpendicular structures, much of the coast is undergoing erosion. Near the Sfantu Gheorghe mouth, a rapidly migrating barrier island acts as a substantial sink for littoral sand producing a downdrift deficit in the sand budget.