Mound Migration in Deeper Water and Methods of Categorizing Active and Stable Depths

Sustained shoreward migration of several dredged material disposal mounds, including one in 6-m depths off the Alabama coast, should encourage greater use of nearshore placement to conserve inlet-dredged sands. Apparent inconsistencies in the fate of mounds at different sites are resolved by ranking the long-term, near-bed velocity distributions. Methods are proposed to help select depths appropriate for either dispersion or retention of placed materials. These methods can be readily applied along any section of the open-ocean coast of the United States using published wave climatology.