Accelerated currents and sediment transport off the Damietta Nile promontory

Severe erosion of valuable agricultural and recreational lands along the apex of the Damietta Nile promontory (Fig. 1) following the closure of the Aswan High Dam remains a problem. Despite extensive shoreline studies, the fate of eroded material and the main mechanism of sediment transport along this coast are unclear 1 . An 11-day bathymetric survey provided exploratory measurements in the coastal waters surrounding the promontory. We report here current meter and side-scan sonar observations which indicate that a high-speed jet forming off the promontory is driving a field of actively migrating sand ridges easterly over a smooth mud plain. These ridges seem to be the dominant along-shore pathway for sediment transport between Damietta and the Suez Canal.