The Use of Aragonite as an Alternate Source of Beach Fill in Southeast Florida

The first full-scale use in the United States of imported aragonite sand for beach restoration was initiated at Fisher Island, Florida, in December, 1990. The project involved placement of 35,500 cy of aragonite fill stabilized by seven rock structures. The structure plan makes use of classic headland and spiral-bay shoreline behaviour to induce a net desired littoral drift pattern. This pattern and the predicted equilibrium fill planform was selected to minimize fill losses and to minimize impacts to nearshore sea grass beds.