Barrier Island Definition
Barrier islands are shore-parallel, wave-constructed, usually elongated nearshore landforms, surrounded at the time of their formation on all sides by subtidal water bodies and often capped by eolian beds. Passes (inlets) flank barriers and link lagoonal backbarrier basins to the open sea. However, even if their lagoon is drained during low tide stages (e.g., Frisian Islands, North Sea), the barrier designation of mesotidal islands is justified (Otvos 2018). Facing high wave energy and salinity condition on the ocean side, the islands act as barriers that protect low-energy brackish lagoons and bays associated with nutrient-rich muddy deposits. Wetlands may subsequently fill the shallow lagoons. Shifts in remotely-sensed vegetation communities prove to be sensitive indicators of even subtle topographic and geomorphic changes in the island interiors (Carter et al. 2018).
Traditional and proper barrier island definitions (e.g., Price 1951; Oertel 1985) exclude...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Anderson JB, Wallace DJ, Simms AR, Rodriguez AB, Milliken KT (2014) Variable response of coastal environments of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico to sea-level rise and climate change: implications for future change. Mar Geol 352:348–366
Bernard HA, Major CF Jr, Parrott BS, LeBlanc RJ Sr (1970) Recent sediments of southeast Texas: a field guide to the Brazos alluvial and deltaic plains and the Galveston barrier island complex, Guidebook, vol 11. Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin. 132 pp
Carter GA, Otvos EG, Anderson CP, Funderburk WR, Lucas KL (2018) Catastrophic storm impact and gradual recovery on the Mississippi-Alabama barrier islands, 2005–2010: Changes in vegetated and total land area, and relationships of post-storm ecological communities with surface elevation. Geomorphology 321:72–86
Davidson-Arnott R (2010) Barrier systems. In: An introduction to coastal processes and geomorphology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 280–324. 442 pp
Davis RA Jr (1994) Barriers of the Florida Peninsula, 167–206. In: Davis RA Jr (ed) Geology of Holocene barrier island systems. Springer, Berlin, 464 pp
Davis RA Jr, Yale KE, Pekala JM, Hamilton MV (2003) Barrier island stratigraphy and Holocene history of west-central Florida. Marine Geol 200:103–123. Ross, Stroudsburg, pp 5–43
Davis RA Jr, FitzGerald DM (2004) Beaches and coasts. Wiley-Blackwell Publisher. 432 pp
de Beaumont LE (1845) Septieme leçón. In: Bertrand P (ed) Leçóns de Géologie pratique. Bertrand, Paris, pp 221–252. Reprinted in: Barrier Islands, Benchmark Papers in Geology. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, PA, pp 5–43
Dillenburg SF, Hesp PA (2009) Geology and geomorphology of coastal barrier of Southern Brazil. Springer, Berlin. 380 pp
Ehlers J (1988) The morphodynamics of the Wadden Sea. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, 397 pp
Ehlers J (1990) Sedimentbewegung und Küstenveränderungen im Wattenmeer der Nordsee. Geogr Rundschau 42:640–646
Evans MW, Hine AC, Belknap DF, Davis RA Jr (1985) Bedrock controls on barrier island development: West-central Florida coast. Mar Geol 63:263–283
Fisher JJ (1981) Barrier beach coastline in: field guide to coastal environmental geology of Rhode Island, No. 125 B-6. University of Rhode Island, pp 153–174
Fisher JJ (1968) Barrier island formation: discussion. Bull Geol Soc Am 10:1421–1425
Fisher JJ (1981) Field guide to coastal environmental geology of Rhode Island’s barrier beach coastline (Figs. 8–63, p 377, in: Davis and Fitzgerald, 2003)
FitzGerald D, Georgiou I, Kulp M, Miner M (2015) Chandeleur islands: a post-berm analysis and island renourishment plan. Report, University of New Orleans Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, New Orleans, 47 pp
Galloway WE, Hobday DK (1983) Terrigenous clastic depositional systems. Springer, Berlin. 489 pp
Ganong WF (1908) On the physiographic characteristics of Portage and Fox Islands, Miramichi, 17–22. (First presented May 1, 1906). Notes on the Natural History and Physiography of New Brunswick, Article II, Note No. 107. Bull. New Brunswick Natural History Society, St. John, N.B., Canada
Giese GS (1988) Cyclic behavior of the tidal inlet at Nauset Beach, Chatham, MA. In: Aubrey DG, Weishar L (eds) Hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of tidal inlets. Springer, Berlin, pp 269–283
Gilbert GK (1885) The topographic features of lake shores. U.S. Geological Survey 5th Annual Report, pp 87–88
Gripp K (1944) Entstehung und künftige Entwicklung der Deutschen Bucht. Aus dem Archiv der Deutschen Seewarte und des Marineobservatoriums 63(2): 45 pp
Hails JR, Hoyt JH (1969) An appraisal of the evolution of the lower Atlantic coastal plain of Georgia, U. S. A. Transactions. Inst Br Geogr 46:53–68
Hayes MO (1994) The Georgia bight barrier system. In: Davis RA Jr (ed) Geology of Holocene barrier island systems. Springer, Berlin, pp 233–304, 464 pp
Hein CJ, FitzGerald DM, Cleary WJ, Albernaz MB, deMenezes JT, Klein AHF (2013) Evidence for a transgressive barrier within a regressive strandplain system: implications for complex coastal response to environmental change. Sedimentology 60:469–502
Hoyt JH (1967) Barrier island formation. Bull Geol Soc Am 78:1125–1136
Ibrahim NA (1986) Sedimentological and morphological evolution of a coarse-grained regressive barrier beach, Horseneck Beach. MS thesis, Boston University. 196 pp
Johnson DW (1919) Shore processes and shoreline development. Wiley, 584 pp
Keilhack K (1925) Geologische Karte von Preussen und benachbarten deutschen Ländern. Erläuterungen zu Lieferung 259. Blatt Borkum, Juist West, Juist-Ost und Norderney, Berlin
Kulp MA, Georgiou IY, Marchal KL, Kramer JN, Adams AP, Fitzgerald DM, Yocum TE, Lebien J, Brown M (2015) Geomorphic evolution of the coupled Raccoon Pass and West Belle Pass barrier spilt, Louisiana. Report. The Water Institute of the Gulf. Baton Rouge, LA. 46 pp (posted on Internet)
McGee WJ (1890) Encroachments of the sea. In: Metcalf LS (ed) The Forum 9:437–449. Reprinted in: Barrier Islands, Benchmark papers in geology. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg
Miner, M. D., Kulp, M., Weathers, H. D., Flocks, J., 2009. Historical (1869–2007) sea floor evolution and sediment dynamics along the Chandeleur Islands. U.S. Geological Survey Specific Investigation Report 2009-5252, pp 47–73
Morton RA (1994) Texas barriers. In: Davis RA Jr (ed) Geology of Holocene barrier island systems. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 74–114. 464 pp
Mulhern JS, Johnson CL, Martin JM (2017) Is barrier island morphology a function of tidal and wave regime? Mar Geol 387:4–84
Oertel GF (1985) The barrier island system. Mar Geol 63:1–18
Ollerhead J, Davidson-Arnott RGD (1995) The evolution of Buctouche Spit, New Brunswick, Canada. Mar Geol 124:215–236
Ordemann W (1912) Beiträge zur morphologischen Entwicklungsgeschichte der deutschen Nordseeküste mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Dünen tragenden Inseln. Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft (für Thüringen) zu Jena 30:15–150
Otvos EG (1970a) Development and migration of barrier islands. Northern Gulf of Mexico. Bull Geol Soc Am 81:241–246. Reprinted in: Barrier Islands, Benchmark papers in geology. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg
Otvos EG (1970b) Development and migration of barrier islands. Northern Gulf of Mexico: Reply. Bull Geol Soc Am 81:3783–3788. Reprinted in: Barrier Islands, Benchmark papers in geology. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg
Otvos EG (1981) Barrier island formation through nearshore aggradation-stratigraphic and field evidence. Mar Geol 43:195–243
Otvos EG (1986) Island evolution and “stepwise retreat”: late Holocene transgressive barriers, Mississippi delta coast – limitation of a model. Mar Geol 72:325–340
Otvos EG (2010) Definition of barrier islands; Discussion of Pilkey, O. H. et al., 2009. Global distribution and geomorphology of fetch-limited barrier islands. J Coast Res 26:387–398
Otvos EG, Carter GA (2013) Regressive and transgressive barrier islands, north-central Gulf Coast. Contrasts in evolution, sediment delivery, and island vulnerability. Geomorphology 198:1–19
Otvos EG, Giardino MP (2004) Interlinked barrier chain and delta lobe development, northern Gulf of Mexico. Sediment Geol 169:47–73
Otvos EG (2018) Coastal barriers, northern Gulf - Last Eustatic Cycle; Genetic categories and development contrasts. A review. Quaternary Sci. Reviews 193:212–243
Penland S, Suter JR, Boyd R (1985) Barrier island arcs along abandoned Mississippi River deltas. Mar Geol 63:197–233
Penland S, Roberts HR, Bailey A, Kuecher GJ, Suhayda JN, Connor PC, Ramsey KE (1994) Geological framework, processes, and rates of subsidence in the Mississippi River Delta Plain. In: Roberts HR Coordinator, critical physical processes of wetland loss 1988–1994. Final report. Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Penland SC, Zganjar KA, Westphal P, Connor J, List J, Williams SJ (2003) Impact of Hurricane Andrew on the Timbalier Islands Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. United States Geological Survey Open File no. 1999. United States Geological Survey, Washington, DC, 15 pp.http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/of03-398/posters/pdf/cont_pdf/ti_an-drew.pdf
Pilkey OH, Frasier ME (2003) A celebration of the World’s barrier islands. Columbia University Press, New York. 400 pp
Price WA (1951) Barrier island, not “offshore bar”. Science 113:487–488
Ruz M-H, Héquette A, Hill PR (1992) A model of coastal evolution in a transgressed thermokarst topography, Canadian Beaufort Sea. Mar Geol 106:251–278
Simeoni U, Fontolan G, Tessari U, Corbau C (2007) Domains of spit evolution in the Goro area, Po Delta, Italy. Geomorphology 86:332–348
Timmons EA, Rodriguez AB, Matthews CR, DeWitt R (2010) Transition of a regressive to transgressive barrier island due to back-barrier erosion, increased storminess, and low sediment supply: Bogue Banks, North Carolina, USA. Mar Geol 278:100–114
United States Geological Survey (2016) Geologic and morphologic evolution of coastal margins. https://coastal.er.usgs.gov/geo-evo/research/bicm.html
USGS (US Geological Survey) (2017) Alabama barrier island restoration assessment. Interim Report, 92 pp
U.S. Army Chief of Engineers (1962) Belle pass to raccoon point, Louisiana. Beach erosion control study, House Document No. 338, Washington DC, p 31
Wilkinson BH (1975) Matagorda Island, Texas: the evolution of a Gulf Coast barrier complex. Bull Geol Soc Am 86:959–967
Williams SJ, Penland S, Sallenger AH Jr (eds) (1992) Louisiana Barrier island erosion study – atlas of barrier shoreline changes in Louisiana from 1853 to 1989: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series I-2150-A, 103 p
Zeigler JM (1959) Origin of the sea islands of the southeastern United States. Geogr Rev 49:222–237
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Otvos, E.G. (2019). Barrier Island Formation and Development Modes. In: Finkl, C.W., Makowski, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Coastal Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93806-6_362
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93806-6_362
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93805-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93806-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences