COMPARING BELOWGROUND CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURAL AND RESTORED COASTAL DUNES ALONG THE NORTHEAST FLORIDA (USA) COAST

Highly developed coasts often comprise nature-based constructed and restored dune systems to protect critical infrastructure and support ecosystem benefits (Nordstrom et al., 2000). Yet, we often fail to capture how the below- ground properties (i.e., biomass/roots, geology, and geotechnical properties) of these reconstructed dunes vary from their natural counterparts. This is critical to understand because differences in belowground properties can result in contrasting morphodynamic behaviors and responses (i.e., erosion rates, dune recovery trajectories) (Bryant et al., 2019). The objective of this work is to quantify dune ecological, geotechnical, and geologic properties across a range of natural to recently reconstructed dunes along the northeast Florida coast. While the overall project evaluates five dune sites, this presentation will focus on two sites six (6) kilometers apart on adjacent barrier island beach-dune systems.