Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
  Environmental and Engineering Geoscience   Email Content Delivery
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Environmental and Engineering Geoscience; May 2006; v. 12; no. 2; p. 93-102; DOI: 10.2113/12.2.93
© 2006 Association of Engineering Geologists
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by SMITH, R.
Right arrow Articles by COLLEN, J. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Three-Dimensional Imaging of Lagoon Aggregate Extraction and Resources: Case Study from Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands

ROBERT SMITH1 and JOHN D. COLLEN2

1 South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission, Private Bag, GPO, Suva, Fiji Islands
2 School of Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

Carbonate sediments are the sole indigenous source of aggregate for infrastructure development on many Pacific islands, and their importance has increased markedly since the middle of the last century. Biogenic gravel and sand are extracted in many places by dredging of shallow lagoons and by the mining of beach deposits. As demand increases, environmental and other problems caused by unrenewable, and thus unsustainable, and/or inappropriate extraction of this limited resource have grown. Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands exhibits many of the problems that are widespread in the Pacific. There is now concern on this atoll about damage to the coastline and the largely uncontrolled nature of aggregate extraction, linked to pressure to increase the habitable space by coastal reclamation and leading to the need for discourse among land owners, developers, and government agencies. The lagoon is large and well suited to study by high-resolution multibeam swath mapping, which has allowed three-dimensional imaging of aggregate deposits and dredge scars and pits. Thus, the technique is valuable both for rapid and accurate surveying and, used in conjunction with satellite imagery, as a means of providing to stakeholders colored images of past damage and areas of future interest.

Key Words: Aggregates • Carbonate Sediments • Lagoonal Sedimentation • Majuro Atoll • Marshall Islands • Sustainable Development • Swath Mapping






JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2008 by Association of Engineering Geologists