Photo 11 (Return)

East Head false colour infrared image 1998. Note the dense vegetation of the older "spine" of the spit compared with the more scattered colonisation of the seaward half of the head upon sand that has accreted in recent decades. Beach drift appears almost completely intercepted by groynes so that supply to East Head occurs by transport over the lower foreshore and nearshore bed. Transport pathways are identified from analyses of gain size sorting trends and from bedforms. Note that some sediments are lost from the head of the spit entrained by flood tidal flows and transported towards the Emsworth Channel. (Photo: Cambridge University CAP)