Bedrock Showing, New Fishing Holes Forming at Oregon Coast Beach, No One Sure Why

Published 8/28/24 at 4:55 p.m.
By Andre' GW Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection

(Newport, Oregon) – It's a weird but fun little occurrence: something has scoured out a bunch of sand at one central Oregon coast beach, and it's causing bedrock to show in summer. This unique situation is also creating temporary, tiny bay-like dents in the sand that have opened up all kinds of recreational possibilities, like fishing holes. (Photo CoastWatch / Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition: it's the only shot of this unique event)

The only photo of this temporary summer oddity is from CoastWatch, taken at Holiday Beach early in August. This area – which is a tad south of South Beach – and the beaches from here to about Lost Creek have suddenly seen lots of sand pulled out and bedrock exposed. That is strange in itself since summer brings in lots of sand to the coast and usually only winter storms take it away. So, something different is happening right there. Oregon Coast's Mega-Cool Holiday Beach Near Newport - What You Don't Know

It has geologists a little puzzled – but not entirely blown away.

The other side of this is the giant pools and small bay-like formations these exposed rocks are creating (embayments). It's creating warm pools of water to play around in that are safe – and even extra fishing spots. Some pools after high tides get lots of perch stuck in them.

What this beach normally looks like

Charlie Plybon, Senior Oregon Policy Manager for Surfrider Foundation, lives along this stretch and is watching it. He's seen it from here down to almost Waldport, and agrees it's weird for summer.

“Fun tip - these lower beach scours often create deeper pools on the beach at lower tide,” he told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “This can in turn create great recreation areas, warmer and safe pools to play in than the ocean. At a rising tide as the ocean covers up these scoured areas of the beach, those deeper areas near the beach tend to attract feeding surf perch and those that like to fish them.”

Full frame photo from CoastWatch: it's Nye Mudstone, millions of years old

Summer always brings in tons of sand and expands beaches: all that sand you see gets shifted around, sometimes daily, and then the ocean always gives or takes more, depending on seasons. Seeing bedrock is odd right now: that's not supposed to happen. What you're getting at Holiday Beach down to Lost Beach is a much wider stretch of strand, with the tideline a good hundred feet or more beyond where it normally is – as per usual for summer.

Most often, that's one long, flat chunk of sand leading outward. Now, however, the forward stretch has abruptly been eroded away and you get this slope towards the beach with exposed bedrock.

“We have some spots between Thiel and Lost Creek that look quite similar,” Plybon said. “Over the weekend, I saw many of these areas start to fill back in with sand, but you're right, we typically don't see this type of scouring in the summer months.”

Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department said they thought people are seeing minus tides showing the mud shelf and reef getting exposed.

“Right now there is a lot of sand from the vegetation line to 50 yards west and when the tide is extremely low they are seeing the reef,” OPRD told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “But I am sure it has something to do with the currents.”

That stuff you're seeing exposed is Nye Mudstone, a formation that lies on top of the usual Astoria Formation that's seen exposed around northern Newport in the winters. That one yields fossils, said Plybon and Newport geologist Jonathan Allan, with Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI). Nye Formation does not.

Allan didn't think this was that unusual, however, though it is difficult to say exactly why it happened. But there's a few possibilities.

“1. The site had simply not fully recovered from the past winter (this is dependent on the summer wave climate).

2. There has been above average along shore sediment transport resulting in hotspots.

3. Rip current embayments may have formed, resulting in localized scour (hotspot) of the beach at these locations.

4. There have not been sufficient winds out of the northwest this summer to drive sand back southward (one would have to evaluate based on surveys of the beach both updrift and downdrift of these areas that have been exposed).”

Plybon is leaning towards some kind of recent scouring action since he's some bigger wave action in the area.

Allan said the layers of sand here and on the north Oregon coast are quite thin.

Normally, summer here is a flat beach with no slope

“Exposure of the shore (rocky) platforms is not unusual on the central coast,” Allan said. “Of note, unlike the north coast, large parts of the central coast consist of a thin (several ft thick) veneer of sand on top of the shore platform.”

Maybe not UFO category unusual: but it isn't the usual thing in summer, that's for sure. It is certainly fleeting. Plybon said after being around for a few weeks it's already starting to disappear.

In any case, sand levels are still high in the area: the ghost forests (4,000-year-old trees) of this stretch are not showing. It just appears as if a narrow stretch of beach has been eroded.

It's also true that Allan can't be certain why it happened and admits more studying of this area needs to be done by DOGAMI.

“This time of year, beach widths are certainly at their widest, especially when you see it on a very low tide as we have been having of late,” Allan said. “Minor shifts in sand can fully expose the rock like this. Again, this is probably simply related to recent wave activity coupled with sand movement. We haven’t surveyed in this area for a few years and I’m hoping to get down there sometime soon. With data and an actual look at the area I could provide a more definitive perspective.”

Perhaps most important is the kooky fun this new features allows: a new fishing spot, and those pools get filled up with warm water that Plybon says are quite a kick. It isn't just humans that love it.

“My dogs love to play in them,” he said.

It's very temporary though, and going away quickly.

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