Barrier Beaches of Long Island, NY Essay

Fine, sandy beaches often occur in areas with light wave action (California's Ocean Resources, 1995). While a more coarse sand is found with heavy wave action (California's Ocean Resources,

Sand dunes are a valid indication of the quality of the soil and the surrounding ocean. When vegetation is established in sand dunes, it stabilises it- i.e. gives the dunes structure. This structure helps prevent erosion by using the plant life to trap the sand. Without these plants (and ultimately the sand dunes) sand will be subject to many natural forces without protection, meaning any major storm could theoretically remove large amounts of sand from the beach with no natural means of replenishing it. Long Reef Beach is commendable in the amount of vegetation it has produced.

walkways to prevent human interference. The main reason of dune stabilization is to slow down the speed of erosion. In 1974 the Cronulla beaches were at an all time low and

　　For the coastal environment and processes of the island, the low energy waves create flat beaches because waves’ sediments are pushed by the wind toward the coastline. On the opposite, the high energy waves create coastal cliffs from wave erosion, and when coastal cliffs are formed, waves will break and release a great deal of energy. In addition, the island shorelines vary from cobbled stone to fine sand, and with salt marshes in a few coves such as the one near Maugers Beach. The sandy shores are mostly located at Ives Cove and Wreck Cove. Cobbles shores are mostly located at Hangmans Beach and Finlays. In addition, there are a few rocky shores in the region such as the one which is located at Maugers Beach or McNabs Cove. Furthermore, there are some infrastructures near the coast such as building, wharves and streets.

Geology of major natural system: Overall, in regards to geology, beach dunes are known for typically containing parallel zones of an upper beach area, undulating foredune, transition dune, and lastly a stable dune- which slopes upward and away from the water’s edge (Web World Wonders, n.d.a.). Primarily, all dunes are known to be driven by wave-sand

A coastal plain is a low flat surface that is a part of the coast of the Atlantic ocean. This area takes up almost half of the whole state of North Carolina. Here you get all four seasons, and sometimes you can see it snow on the beach while it can also get to 100 degrees The Outer Banks is made of three parts. This includes the Tidewater, Outer banks, and the Inner Coastal Plains. The outer banks is about 175 miles long and consists of many barrier islands. Barrier islands are thin islands separated from shore by sounds. A sound is a narrow, large body of water that separates the two parts of land. Some of the islands include Hattera,Oracoke, and Bodie islands. Though these islands are major vacation spots in North Carolina they include

The drift of sand that is going north is created by the winds and waves. Although, sand can move in different wind conditions. This sand movement is also known as a littoral drift. Big quantities of sand is eroded due to the cause of considerable damage to beach, dune and nearshore areas because of a coastal storm. Therefore, Glenelg beach cannot be considered stable just like other Adelaide beaches. Before the settlement of the Europeans, Glenelg beach had been withheld by costal dune erosion. Although due to the subsequent development occurring on the top of the dunes, a replenishment process has to be carried out artificially.

Before becoming a military wife, I grown up in New York State. I remember throughout my childhood we were always being forewarned that the Big Apple state was always endanger of a having beach erosion along the coast. As of today, the beach erosion is in the news because it’s almost beach season and the state has plans to shore the beach up with sand. This made me curious to find out whether the erosion at the beach has grown into a matter-of-factily a hype, or if in fact the beach erosion was correctly a concern. I was able to research two articles on the New York beach erosion, and I was able to gain a clarification on this prediction. The two articles both agree that there is erosion, but I did some research and one presents a closer

In Long Island, the marshes are wetter and vegetated areas are shifting from high marsh to low marsh or to mud flat, which are far less productive and give fewer services than the salt marshes and other high marshes that are supposed to be there. (Kirwan 2013

It has become common for sand dunes to be bulldozed to improve the views to the sea. However this destroys the natural protection of the coast. Human activities such as water transport also can cause problems for coastal areas. The dredging of navigation channels and the discharging of the material in deep water to enable larger ships to travel though water channels removes sediment from the coastal system leaving the area susceptible to erosion and will also interfere with longshore drift which will prevent the coastal beach landforms from being maintained such as the development of a spit. It is likely that a spit will be eroded and start to regress in conditions such as these.

Mr. Lima and Dr. Becky Gillaspy gave some great examples in explaining the types of shorelines and its effects of deposition. During Mr. Lima’s video “Types of Shorelines,” I learned many kind of shorelines, but the one that stood out to me the most was steam deposition shorelines because it reminded me of Galveston Beach. The one time I went to Galveston, I remember every time a large wave came it carried old settlements along with it. According to Dr. Becky Gillaspy in her video “The Effects of Deposition on Shoreline Features,” the settlements I was experiencing was longshore drifting that transport settlements and sand along the cost. Also, I was able to determine that the reason why Galveston landscape has changed over the years was due

If you have ever lived in proximity to coastal areas you may have seen coastline erosion first hand. The beaches you frequent during the summer may seem to be getting smaller and smaller every year. Why does your favorite beach seem to be disappearing? Coastal erosion is to blame. The waves, wind, tides and currents all play a part in the mechanism that is coastal erosion. When water and wind batter the shoreline sediments are carried out to sea and deposited on the sea floor or at other points along the coastline. This is called an erosional coastline. This erosion may be very apparent or seem to have happened overnight when it happens due to a large storm or extremely high tide.

Poor water quality resulting from stormwater runoff and effluent disposal causes gaps in the seagrass meadows. The sand below the meadow edge is then eroded away by waves. This is thought to have increased the rate of seagrass loss and made it difficult for plants to recolonise the seafloor. As a result of the loss of sand from the seabed, the level of seabed has steadily become up to one metre deeper and the wave energy reaching our beaches has increased. This causes a large quantity of sand to drift north along the coast. (Adelaide's Living Beaches, 2015, p.4)

adverse impacts of beach erosion. However, the bathymetric characteristics of the nearshore region also play a role in wave-induced beach

Dunes are formed by wind moving the dry sand that is well sorted and very fine to fine grained sand. The back-barrier region of the barrier island consists of the marsh, tidal flats, overwash fan and a lagoon. The overwash fan forms when storm surges through the dune and will spread over the marsh. The marshes and tidal flats are very important ecological systems and can be sefined has vegetated muddy flats. There are three different types of barrier islands. Wave dominated barriers are long and narrow and have low islands that have few tital inless and small ebb tide deltas. The overwash fan and windblown sand are commonly found in the backshore. Mixed energy barrier islands are the opposite of wave dominated barrier islands. These are short, fat, high islands, many large inlets with large ebb tide deltas. These islands also have a drumstick shape.