Abstract:
Colombo is the major commercial harbour in Sri Lanka and the
government has started to expand this harbour to increase its capacity. Therefore, a
breakwater has started to build perpendicular to the shoreline. Due to these types of
offshore structures wave patterns as well as current patterns changes to a large extent,
leading to detrimental effects on the coastal beaches on either side of the harbour. In this
study, we are planning to understand coastal effects due to the harbour expansion by
studying 8 transects selected from each side of the harbour and measuring beach width,
profile changes and grain size variation at mean sea level at monthly interval. This
information along with previous shoreline data collected from the Survey department of
Sri Lanka can be used to understand the coastal sediment dynamics including the erosion
and deposition characters in the nearby beaches.
Citation:
Nawarathna, N.M.I.B., Jeevakan, T., Ranatunga, R.P.U.M., Jayasena, J.H.D.J., & Ratnayaka, N.P. (2011). Coastal problems associated with Southern Colombo Harbour expansion project. In N. P. Ratnayake & A.M.K.B. Abeysinghe (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th National Conference on Minerals and Innovative Thinking (pp. 21-24). Department of Earth Resources Engineering, University of Moratuwa
