“Beach erosion is not ‘rising seas’. It’s nature. Oh, and science. They should’ve put that in the title.
correct, it’s nature”
No it’s not always nature. I hold my first master’s in geology specifically as a sedimentologist. My thesis field area was the Bolivar peninsula and southern Galveston island. I was sponsored by state farm and the NSF to do a regressive analysis of beach erosion rates for both those locations. Those portions of the Texas coast line are eroding due to human induced sediment starvation. Specifically the damming of the Sabine and Trinity river systems. The sediments that would naturally nourish those coastlines are being trapped behind dams on lakes up stream. While I don’t know about the outer banks I have a extensive data for this region of Texas. multi spectral satellite data, airborne lidar, ground penetrating radar, onshore and off shore core samples, and we even got a permit to trench a federally protected dune down to the mudline. I can prove that the sediment balance is negative and can also match the sediments in place to those in the Sabine and Trinity river systems by petrographic analysis. The loss of beachfront on that portion of the Texas coast is 100% man made. Houston is not going to remove lake Livingston dam and lose it’s largest water source so off shore nourishment is and will continue to be needed indefinitely along that part of the coastal barrier system.
Excellent and informative information. Just not sure how it effects the outer banks.