A model for the estimation of water filtration and nutrient regeneration by exposed sandy beaches

Exposed sandy beaches filter huge volumes of sea water daily as a result of wave and tide action. A regression model is developed which predicts the volume of water filtered daily by a beach as a function of tide range, beach slope and sand particle size. From these parameters estimates are also made of intertidal distance, the degree of expansion of the intertidal above the still water tide range by wave action and the average path length through the sand interstices percolated by filtered sea water. An equation is derived relating the degree of mineralisation of organic matter in the filtered sea water to the distance filtered through the sand and the sand particle size. Employing all this information, a simple model is used to estimate the volumes of sea water filtered and the amounts of inorganic nitrogen regenerated by intertidal sandy beaches over a range of physical conditions. The implications of this nutrient generation for the inshore zone are discussed.