Introduction
Outside of the North Carolina and the southern Virginia shoreline lays the Outer Banks. They are considered barrier islands. “Barrier islands are depositional offshore linear features separated from the mainland by a lagoon and orientated parallel to the coast. They are usually comprised of sand that is built above the high-tide level and stabilized by vegetation” (Haslett 2000). The Outer Banks are defined as “extending about 320 km south from Cape Henry, past Cape Hatteras to Cape Lookout” (Inman, Dolan 1989). Figure 1 is a map of the area of study. This paper plans to look at the shoreline dynamics, climate, and biodiversity, of the Outer Banks. Understanding the physical characteristics of this coastal system is essential to comprehending how it will respond to changes due to anthropogenic or natural sources, and the role they have in defending the shoreline behind them.
Shoreline Dynamics
To understand the shoreline dynamics of the Outer Banks, we first must take a look at barrier islands in general to understand their formation and processes within them. “The Outer Banks are a recent geological formation, having formed since the last glaciation” (Stalter, Lamont 1997). Barrier islands formation is not 100 percent understood though. Haslett has provided three different hypothesis models for their development:
1. “Emerged-transgressive model. Barrier islands may represent offshore bars that were formed during the previous glacial sea level low stand, and the post-glacial rise in sea level developed vertically using accumulated sediment transported onshore during the transgression” (Haslett 2000).
2. “Submerged-transgressive model. Barrier islands may have been coastal dunes during a lower sea level, but were ...
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...ovide defense for the mainland. The Outer Banks is overall are an important key feature to the coast line of the eastern United States.
Works Cited
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is being eroded by the sea so that cliffs, up to 20 metres high rise
Cline noticed a continually rising tide in spite of a 15 mph wind from out of the north as well as decreasing pressure. At 12 o'clock midnight Saturday September 8, 1900 it began to rain in Galveston. By nine in the morning water was running calf deep a few blocks from the beach. The rising tide, driving wind, rain and storm surge broke apart the bathhouses on the beach. Citizens of Galveston began to comprehend the importance of the situation and started movin...
... consider some ideas of what can be done to further enhance the management of the coastal issue. Using the research action plan, I aim to acquire a sophisticated understanding of longshore drift, coastal management and implementations of coastal issues, through the research action plan. Most importantly, I will include various diagrams explaining how the process of longshore drift occurs and what implementations it has on coastal environments, accompanied by an explanation of how the issue is being managed, a detailed outline of the geographical processes involved and a discussion of the impacts of the issue and why it is important.
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The Long Island Sound is an estuary, and is in fact one of the largest in the world. An estuary is a place where salt water from the ocean mixes with fresh water from the rivers that drain from the land. Moreover, like other estuaries, the Long Island Sound has an abundance of fish and other waterfowl that add to the natural balance of the island, as well as one of the most important economic factors (Tedesco). Like other estuaries around the world, the Sound provides breeding, feeding, nesting, and nursery areas for many species that will spend most of their adult lives in the oceans (Long Island Sound Study). Despite these similarities to other estuaries, the Long Island Sound is unique from anywhere else in the world. Unlike other estuaries, the Long Island Sound does not just have one connection to the sea but it has two. It has two major sources of fresh water flowing into the bay that empty into the ocean. It combines this two-...
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The cycles of the ocean waters rising (transgressing) and receding (regressing) are known as transgressive-regressive cycles. The mid- to Upper Cretaceous rocks in the Big Bend area of southwest Texas encompasses rock ages from approximately 70 to 100 million years ago (mya). During this time the sea transgressed and regressed a number of times. The final regression of the Cretaceous sea occurred about 70 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period, at the time of the Aguja Formation deposition. By observing the transgressive and regressive cycles of the Mid to Upper Cretaceous period a reasonable prediction of ocean depth over time can be made. Fossil data from the mid to Upper Cretaceous period predicts the sequence of rock strata in Big Bend National Park to be from bottom to top: limestone (containing clams, oysters, and ammonites), shale and clay (containing shellfish and marine reptile bones), limestone again, and sandstone and clay (both containing fossil wood and dinosaur bones) (Maxwell, 1967). Assuming that the rocks on the bottom are the earliest layer, it may be concluded that the earliest layer of rock was deposited in a relatively deep marine environment, then the ocean regressed to produce the next layer, then transgressed to produce the last.
The first passage, Environmental Facts About Georgiaś Coastal Plain, provides facts about the Coastal Plains. The facts are environmental centric. For example, the author states,¨ Sixty percent of Georgia's coastal plain is covered in forest.¨ The author goes into more detail about the animal and plant life in the Coastal Plain region of Georgia. Furthermore, the author explains the danger the Coastal Plain is in.
Over the past 100 years the Louisiana coastline has suffered greatly from biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic factors. The abiotic factors include things such as hurricanes or overnutrition that influence the surrounding biota. The biotic factors that contribute to coastal erosion are things like the immigration invasive species and the emigration or extinction of local flora and fauna that help preserve the wetlands. Additionally, there are anthropogenic factors such as pollution that can have strong negative influences on the abiotic and biotic factors of the wetlands. Each one of these factors cause ecological disturbances to the wetlands at a frequency and intensity that is unmanageable for the local flora and fauna. There are currently certain measures that are being taken into consideration to slow or stop the erosion of the Louisiana coastline.
Coastal erosion is a growing problem along the Gulf Coast. Louisiana is one of the coastal states most affected by coastal erosion. Ninety percent of wetland loss in the nation occurs in Louisiana, losing 25-35 square miles per year. At that rate, Louisiana will lose 640,000 more acres by 2050. Many factors contribute to this land loss, such as rising sea levels, subsidence, hurricane storm surge, cold fronts, and human interference. Cold fronts and hurricanes can both have detrimental consequences on the coast of Louisiana (Zhang 2004) (Restore or Retreat 2012). This research shows whether cold fronts or hurricanes have a larger effect on coastal erosion. The researcher will describe how historical and current satellite imagery help in determining the changes in the Louisiana coast. Based on previous research, the researcher believes that hurricanes have more of an effect on coastal erosion than cold fronts due to the high winds and storm surge.
Scavia, Donald, John C. Field, Donald F. Boesch, Robert W. Buddemeier, Virginia Burkett, Daniel R. Cayan, Michael Fogarty, Mark A. Harwell, Robert W. Howarth, Curt Mason, Denise J. Reed, Thomas C. Royer, Asbury H. Sallenger, and James G. Titus. "Climate Change Impacts on U.S. Coastal and Marine Ecosystems." Estuaries 25.2 (2002): 149-64. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
Primary coasts are divided into two categories: submergent and emergent coasts. Submergent coastlines result from a general sea-level rise and crustal subsidence. Most of the eastern United States has submergent coastlines. One example is the Chesapeake Bay. Emergent coastlines result from the land being lifted, either by tectonic activity or rebound from the weight of heavy glaciers, which exposes the former sea bottom bit by bit forming continuously new shoreline.