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Runaway Barrier Island Transgression Concept: Global Case Studies

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Barrier Dynamics and Response to Changing Climate

Abstract

The regime of accelerating sea-level rise forecasted by the IPCC (2013) suggests that many platform marshes and tidal flats may soon cross a threshold and deteriorate/drown as back-barrier basins transform to intertidal and subtidal areas. This chapter explores how marshes may succumb to rising sea level and how the loss of wetlands will increase the extent and the overall depth of open water in the back-barrier, causing greater tidal exchange. Here, we present a conceptual model that depicts how increasing tidal prism enlarges the size of tidal inlets and sequesters an increasingly larger volume of sand in ebb-tidal delta shoals. The conceptual model is based on empirical relationships between tidal prism and inlet parameters, as well as field and theoretical hydraulic studies of tidal inlets showing that long-term basinal deepening intensifies the flood dominance of existing inlet channels and transforms some ebb-dominated channels to flood-dominated channels. This condition leads to sand movement into the back-barrier, which builds and enlarges flood-tidal deltas, filling the newly created accommodation space. The model hypothesizes that sand contributed to the growth of the ebb and flood tidal delta shoals will be at the expense of barrier reservoirs. This will result in diminished sand supplies along the coast, eventually leading to fragmentation of barrier island chains and the transition from stable to transgressive coastal systems. Several historical studies of barrier island systems throughout the world demonstrate barrier response to changing tidal prism and illustrate different stages of this conceptual model.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the many graduate students whose research helped develop the ideas presented in this chapter. The paper has been substantively improved with suggestions and editorial comments by Andrew Ashton, Laura Moore, Brad Murray, and one anonymous reviewer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Duncan M. FitzGerald B.A., M.S., Ph.D. & Zoe Hughes Ph.D.

  2. Department of Physical Sciences, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, VA, USA

    Christopher J. Hein B.S., Ph.D.

  3. Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Zoe Hughes Ph.D.

  4. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Mark Kulp B.S., M.S., Ph.D. & Ioannis Georgiou B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.

  5. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico Region, New Orleans, USA

    Michael Miner B.S., M.S., Ph.D.

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  1. Duncan M. FitzGerald B.A., M.S., Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Duncan M. FitzGerald B.A., M.S., Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department Geological Sciences, Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

    Laura J. Moore

  2. Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, Center for Nonlinear and Complex Systems, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    A. Brad Murray

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FitzGerald, D.M., J. Hein, C., Hughes, Z., Kulp, M., Georgiou, I., Miner, M. (2018). Runaway Barrier Island Transgression Concept: Global Case Studies. In: Moore, L., Murray, A. (eds) Barrier Dynamics and Response to Changing Climate. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68086-6_1

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