Abstract
Seacliff State Beach, along the shoreline of northern Monterey Bay, California, has a well-documented history of repeated destruction and reconstruction of seawalls and park facilities. Seven times in 60 years the timber seawall has been destroyed by winter storm waves and subsequently rebuilt. The deficiencies of the wall, including (a) inadequate attachment of timber lagging to pilings, (b) inability of pilings or lagging to withstand repeated impact of waves and logs, and (c) inadequate height and internal drainage system have never been adequately addressed and each successive wall has essentially been identical to the previously destroyed wall.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Bixby, H. C., Jr. 1962. Storms causing harbor and shoreline damage through wind and waves, Monterey, California. Unpublished MS thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.
California Coastal Commission. 1978. Wave damage along the California coast, December 1977–March 1978. San Francisco.
Corps of Engineers, US Army San Francisco District. 1958. Beach Erosion Control Report on Cooperative Study of Santa Cruz Area, Pacific Coastline of California.
Dean, R. G., G. A. Armstrong, and N. Sitar. 1984. California coastal erosion and storm damage during the winter of 1982–83. For Committee on Natural Disasters, National Research Council. National Academy Press. Washington, DC. 74 pp.
Domurat, G. W. 1978. Selected coastal storm damage in California, winter of 1977–78. Shore and Beach (American Society of Shore and Beach Preservation Association, Wilmington, North Carolina) July, pp. 15–20.
Emery, K. O., and G. G. Kuhn. 1982. Seacliffs: their processes, profiles, and classification.Geological Society of America Bulletin 93:644–654.
Fulton-Bennett, K. W., and G. B. Griggs. 1986. Coastal protection structures and their effectiveness. Joint publication of California State Department of Boating and Waterways and Marine Sciences Institute, University of California at Santa Cruz, 52 pp.
Griggs, G. B., and R. E. Johnson. 1983. Impact of 1983 storms on the coastline of northern Monterey Bay.California Geology 36:163–174.
Griggs, G. B., and Savoy, L. E. 1985. Living with the California coast. Duke University Press. Durham, North Carolina, 393 p.
Hull, D. History of protection efforts at Seacliff State Beach. Unpublished report, California State Division of Parks and Recreation, Sacramento.
Johnson, J. W., M. P. O'Brien, and J. D. Isaacs. 1948. Graphical construction of wave refraction diagrams. US Navy Hydrological Office Publication no. 605. Washington, D.C.
National Marine Consultants. 1960. Wave statistics for seven deep water stations along the California coast. Report prepared for US Army Corp of Engineers, Los Angeles and San Francisco Districts, 20 pp.
Seymour, R. J. 1983. Extreme waves in California during winter, 1983. State of California, Department of Boating and Waterways, unpublished report, 18 pp.
State of California. 1984. Seacliff State Beach Report to the State Public Works Board on storm damage repairs and alternatives. California State Department of Parks and Recreation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Griggs, G.B., Fulton -Bennett, K.W. Failure of coastal protection at Seacliff State Beach, Santa Cruz County, California, USA. Environmental Management 11, 175–182 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01867196
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01867196