Shoreface sediment availability offshore of a rapidly migrating, mixed-energy barrier island

By:  and 
Edited by: Ping WangElizabeth Royer, and Julie D. Rosati

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Abstract

Less is known about sediment exchanges between shorefaces and mixed-energy barrier islands (MEBI) than between shorefaces and wave-dominated barrier islands. We used seismic stratigraphy from Cedar Island, Virginia, USA to understand the interplay between shoreface deposits and MEBI morphodynamics. Interpretations reveal that the shelf and shoreface are extensively dissected by breach and inlet channels. Shoreface morphology varies due to underlying lithology and variable rates of barrier retreat. Underlying lithology adjacent to breach channels affected their migration rates, thereby exerting controls on alongshore extent of shoreface erosion. Shoreface deposits reworked by a migrating breach have lower slopes than those reworked by a more stationary one. Elevated rates of barrier retreat in southern Cedar Island may cause flattening of the shoreface because rapid barrier island migration required increased onshore sediment fluxes. In summary, barrier breach pervasiveness at MEBI may play an outsized role on shoreface ravinement and morphology. Ultimately, analyses of shoreface architecture and morphology provide insight on the relative influences of inlets, geology, and sea-level rise on barrier island sediment fluxes, which could help inform coastal planners, improve parameterization of shoreface sediment flux, and further future studies of morphologic change at MEBI.

Study Area

Publication type Conference Paper
Publication Subtype Conference Paper
Title Shoreface sediment availability offshore of a rapidly migrating, mixed-energy barrier island
DOI 10.1142/9789811275135_0264
Year Published 2023
Language English
Publisher World Scientific
Contributing office(s) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Description 14 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Conference publication
Larger Work Title Coastal Sediments 2023: Proceedings of the Coastal Sediments 2023
First page 2903
Last page 2916
Conference Title Coastal Sediments 2023
Conference Location New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Conference Date April 11-15, 2023
Country United States
State Virginia
Other Geospatial Cedar Island
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