Sediment budget for the North Illinois Shore from the Wisconsin border to Wilmette Harbor

A sediment budget for the North Illinois Shore was developed to evaluate littoral processes and provide a regional sand management decision support tool. This study time frame covers the 1990s to 2017. The North Shore of Illinois is a highly dynamic and diverse coastline with littoral processes complicated by coastal infrastructure, commercial harbors, and uncoordinated shoreline management. Longshore sediment transport along the North Illinois Shore is predominately from north to south, and the volume in the system varies greatly. The best available data were used for the computations in this sediment budget. However, some fluxes had to be inferred (i.e., from dredging records), and some were not considered (i.e., aeolian transport, offshore flux).