Chapter 8
Granulometry of Sediments in the Mamaia
Bay Area
Da ˘nuț I. Diaconeasa
Abstract The longshore drift of Mamaia Bay is strongly affected as a result of
anthropogenic constructions such as Midia Harbor, Pescarie marina and coastal
protection structures, especially detached breakwaters type “breaking wave”. Based
on 56 samples collected in 2012 the grain size parameters (mean, sorting, skewness
and kurtosis) were analyzed in order to determine the sedimentation process of
coastal environments. On the backshore area fine and very fine sand classes are
prevalent with an average of 68%. The swash area sediments are constituted from
accumulations of coarse, medium fine fractions of shell and very fine sand. In the
surf zone (1.0–6.0 m deep) fine and very fine sandy sediments are deposited in a
proportion of more than 90%. On the nearshore zone the very fine sand class, which
varies between 70% to 85%, contributes the most and the very coarse silt reaches
generally values from 10% to 20%.
Keywords Grain size sediment • Backshore • Swash • Surf • Nearshore • Black
Sea • Romanian shore • Mamaia Bay
8.1 Introduction
The studied area Mamaia Bay is part of the Romanian southern coastal unit and a
transitional subunit, respectively, between Cape Midia – Midia Harbor and Cape
Singol – Constanta marina (Fig. 8.1)
The Mamaia sand barrier was formed (Caraivan 1982) about 4500–5000 years
ago in a marine bay, which was blocked by a sand bar (2500–3000 B.P.) at a depth
of about 2 m. Alluvial material brought by the Danube was transported along the
coast and captured the shelter Cape Clisargic (Midia Harbor). The current sand
barrier was formed bounding the Lake Siutghiol freshwater lagoon. Within the
study area the variety of sedimentary deposits is determined by the nature of the
source of intake, mainly terrigenous and organogenous, and latest added sediments
D.I. Diaconeasa (*)
National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa”, Constant ¸a,
Romania
e-mail: ddiaconeasa@yahoo.com
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018
C.W. Finkl, C. Makowski (eds.), Diversity in Coastal Marine Sciences, Coastal
Research Library 23, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57577-3_8
133
Granulometry of Sediments in the Mamaia
Bay Area
Da ˘nuț I. Diaconeasa
Abstract The longshore drift of Mamaia Bay is strongly affected as a result of
anthropogenic constructions such as Midia Harbor, Pescarie marina and coastal
protection structures, especially detached breakwaters type “breaking wave”. Based
on 56 samples collected in 2012 the grain size parameters (mean, sorting, skewness
and kurtosis) were analyzed in order to determine the sedimentation process of
coastal environments. On the backshore area fine and very fine sand classes are
prevalent with an average of 68%. The swash area sediments are constituted from
accumulations of coarse, medium fine fractions of shell and very fine sand. In the
surf zone (1.0–6.0 m deep) fine and very fine sandy sediments are deposited in a
proportion of more than 90%. On the nearshore zone the very fine sand class, which
varies between 70% to 85%, contributes the most and the very coarse silt reaches
generally values from 10% to 20%.
Keywords Grain size sediment • Backshore • Swash • Surf • Nearshore • Black
Sea • Romanian shore • Mamaia Bay
8.1 Introduction
The studied area Mamaia Bay is part of the Romanian southern coastal unit and a
transitional subunit, respectively, between Cape Midia – Midia Harbor and Cape
Singol – Constanta marina (Fig. 8.1)
The Mamaia sand barrier was formed (Caraivan 1982) about 4500–5000 years
ago in a marine bay, which was blocked by a sand bar (2500–3000 B.P.) at a depth
of about 2 m. Alluvial material brought by the Danube was transported along the
coast and captured the shelter Cape Clisargic (Midia Harbor). The current sand
barrier was formed bounding the Lake Siutghiol freshwater lagoon. Within the
study area the variety of sedimentary deposits is determined by the nature of the
source of intake, mainly terrigenous and organogenous, and latest added sediments
D.I. Diaconeasa (*)
National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa”, Constant ¸a,
Romania
e-mail: ddiaconeasa@yahoo.com
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018
C.W. Finkl, C. Makowski (eds.), Diversity in Coastal Marine Sciences, Coastal
Research Library 23, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57577-3_8
133