2011

VIRGINIA BEACH SAND SOURCE STUDY

Athena was contracted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) to conduct a vibracore study offshore of Virginia Beach, Virginia for determining the suitability of sand resources in the area.

RV Artemis was deployed in the area to collect the 42 vibracores in an area around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  Cores were required to penetrate to 20 feet below sediment surface. Athena deployed an RTK system to monitor core elevations to ensure meeting project depth. 

 Time was also comrpessed due to the appraoch of Hurricane Irene and forced Athena personnel to complete the project ahead of schedule and within project specifications (penetration and recovery targets were met).

2003-2005

FOLLY BEACH SAND SOURCE EVALUATION

Athena collected 155 vibracore samples offshore of Folly Beach during three mobilizations between 2003-2005 to determine suitability for beach placement prior to a beach restoration project. 

Cores were analyzed after each mobilization in order to improve planning for the next phase and final dredging.  The sampling grid started at 2000 feet and work down to 500 foot spacing for a detailed borrow area analysis.

Athena was responsible for vibracore collection, geotechnical laboratory oversight, and geological reporting for all three phases.

This included core logging, photography, creating a sub-sampling & analysis plan, and final reporting.  All samples were tested for grain size and carbonate percentages. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was the final end user of the dataset and work was contracted through the Corps directly, GEC, Inc., and Weeks Marine.