How to Read a North Carolina Beach: Bubble Holes, Barking Sands, and Rippled RunnelsTake a walk on the beach with three coastal experts who reveal the secrets and the science of the North Carolina shoreline. What makes sea foam? What are those tiny sand volcanoes along the waterline? You'll find the answers to these questions and dozens |
Contents
The Big Picture Understanding Wind Waves and Sand | 1 |
SeaLevel Change | 5 |
Waves and the Currents They Form | 8 |
ROGUE WAVES | 14 |
TSUNAMIS | 15 |
The Sand Supply of the Beach | 17 |
SOURCES OF SAND | 19 |
Groundwater in the Beach | 20 |
Barrier Island Migration | 69 |
Whats Happening Today? | 72 |
Beach Clues Reading the Signs on the Beach | 73 |
Air in the Beach | 78 |
Holes Rings Blisters Pits and Volcanoes | 79 |
How Currents and Winds Sculpt the Surface | 86 |
The Modifier | 101 |
Shipwrecks on the Beach | 104 |
What Makes and Shapes a North Carolina Beach | 23 |
BERMS | 24 |
OFFSHORE BARS | 25 |
Source and Composition of North Carolina Sand | 29 |
HEAVY MINERALS | 30 |
GRAVEL | 34 |
North Carolina Dunes | 37 |
Dune Types | 39 |
Dune Forms and Features | 44 |
DUNE SAND AND STRATIFICATION | 46 |
DUNE GRASS | 48 |
The Problems of Bulldozed and Artificial Dunes | 49 |
The Civilian Conservation Corps Dunes | 51 |
Barrier Islands The Platforms for Beaches | 55 |
How Were Barrier Islands Formed? | 60 |
How Do Barrier Islands Evolve? | 62 |
The Ocean the Beach Life | 106 |
Life Signs Beach Critters Past and Present | 107 |
Brown and Black Shells | 113 |
Shell Orientation | 117 |
Sharks Teeth | 118 |
Clams Crabs Turtles Birds and Other Large Creatures | 119 |
Microscopic Critters in the Sand | 129 |
An Uncertain Future | 131 |
Conservation of Beaches | 133 |
Whats Up? | 135 |
So What? | 136 |
Whats the Alternative? | 143 |
Beach Terminology | 145 |
Suggested Readings | 153 |
| 159 | |
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Common terms and phrases
artificial dune ashore barrier islands beach nourishment beach sand beach surface bedforms berm birds black shells blister Bogue Banks breaker bubbles bubbly sand bulldozed burrow Cape Hatteras clams coast coastal plain color continental shelf Core Banks crabs deposited dune sand dunes ebb tidal delta eroded erosion feet Figure foam foredunes ghost crabs heavy minerals Hurricane Dennis Inlet island migration lagoon landward layers longshore currents low-tide meiofauna move Nags Head nail holes nest North Caro North Carolina beaches Ocracoke orientation Outer Banks overwash pattern Penny for scale piles plant processes quartz ridges ripple marks river rocks sand grains sand supply sandbar scarp sea floor sea level sea oats sea turtle seashells seawalls seaward seaweed sediment Shackleford Banks shoreface shoreline slope sound Spartina species storm waves surf zone swash mark swash zone Topsail Island trough upper beach wave crest wave swash wrack line Wrightsville Beach