Processes of barrier island erosion
- Geological Survey, St. Petersburg, FL (USA)
- Geological Survey, Reston, VA (USA)
During 1986, the US Geological Survey and the Louisiana Geological Survey began a 5-year study of the processes causing the extreme rates (up to 20 m/year) of erosion of Louisiana's barrier islands. These processes must be better understood in order to predict future erosion and to assess management and erosion mitigation plans. The study is divided into three parts: the geologic development of barrier islands, the critical processes leading to erosion, and applications of results. This paper provides an overview of the part of the study on critical processes. The process part includes modeling erosion of the barrier islands due to sea level rise, the net loss of sand offshore, gradients in longshore transport, and overwash. Evidence indicates that the low-lying barrier beaches on much of the Louisiana coast do not approach an equilibrium configuration. These beaches, which, in many places, are not protected by dunes, are overwashed even during moderate storms and apparently are not evolving to a configuration that limits overwash. As a result, even with stable sea level, the beaches will continue to overwash and migrate landward during storms. Commonly used methods of modeling beach response to rising sea level assume beaches approach an equilibrium configuration, hence applying these methods to coastal Louisiana is problematical.
- OSTI ID:
- 5111114
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8910221--
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Vol. 73:9; ISSN AABUD; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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