Arcachon: re-silting of beaches to limit their erosion

On the beach of Arcachon (Gironde)small grains of sand are returned to him. These beaches are re-sanded both years because winter storms dig into the sand. How does that foperates? A boat picks up sediment from an underwater sandbar in the middle from Bowl then rejects it on the coast. “The boat runs night and day and 24 hours a day. nearly 175,000 m3 to be laid on the ground”says Claude Bernard, shore operator. This operation allow of “stabilize and maintain a certain amount of sand on the beaches and limit the swell that will come type”.

Sand is not an unlimited resource. These grains come from the Massif central but to-beyond twenty meters under water, it disappears. “We are on a stock of sand which has built over the last millennia and which today is gradually eroding small”, Explain Nicholas BernardCNRS engineer. Sand is our best ally in the face of rising waters and climate changes.