The rate of alongshore sediment transport in the surf zone depends on the product of the local wave height and mean alongshore current speed. In this study, measurement of alongshore sediment transport rate had carried out in the surf zone of Noor coastal area, in the southern part of the Caspian Sea during September to June 2012.Further, alongshore sediment transport rate had estimated by different famous semi-empirical formulas.

Further, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model is trained using three dominant parameters of sediment transport formulas including wave breaking height ( ), surf zone width (W), and alongshore current velocity (V). ANN models are able to show hidden laws of natural phenomena such as sediment transport process. The results of ANN and some sediment transport rate formulas were compared with mean variables which can be used in developing sediment transport rate formulas.

The Results show that the estimated value of alongshore sediment transport rate by C.E.R.C, Walton, and Bruno (W.B) and Kamphuis (K) formulas and ANN model was 737.8, 670.3, 593.3, and 592.4 respectively. Also according to the results, the calculated values in an estimation of alongshore sediment transport rate for ANN method and C.E.R.C, W.B, and K, were 0.99, 0.98, 0.75, and 0.84andRMSE 4.7×10-4, 8.4×10-4, 9.1×10-2, and1.4×10-3, respectively. The results, the Study also show that the formulas based on physical laws of sediment transport rate, such as C.E.R.C, W.B, and K formulas that were developed based on power concept, are more accurate than Galvin and Van Deer Meer formulas for estimating sediment transport rate in the Caspian Sea coastal areas.