Barrier Dynamics and Response to Changing Climate

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

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2. Observations and Conceptual Models of Barrier Response to Changing Climate

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Runaway Barrier Island Transgression Concept: Global Case Studies

      • Duncan M. FitzGerald, Christopher J. Hein, Zoe Hughes, Mark Kulp, Ioannis Georgiou, Michael Miner

      Pages 3-56

   3. Drowned Barriers as Archives of Coastal-Response to Sea-Level Rise

      • Claire L. Mellett, Andrew J. Plater

      Pages 57-89

   4. Barrier Island and Estuary Co-evolution in Response to Holocene Climate and Sea-Level Change: Pamlico Sound and the Outer Banks Barrier Islands, North Carolina, USA

      • David Mallinson, Stephen Culver, Eduardo Leorri, Siddhartha Mitra, Ryan Mulligan, Stanley Riggs

      Pages 91-120

   5. Abrupt Increase in Washover Deposition Along a Transgressive Barrier Island During the Late Nineteenth Century Acceleration in Sea-Level Rise

      • Antonio B. Rodriguez, Winnie Yu, Ethan J. Theuerkauf

      Pages 121-145

   6. Follets Island: A Case of Unprecedented Change and Transition from Rollover to Subaqueous Shoals

      • Christopher I. Odezulu, Jorge Lorenzo-Trueba, Davin J. Wallace, John B. Anderson

      Pages 147-174

   7. Role of the Foredune in Controlling Barrier Island Response to Sea Level Rise

      • Chris Houser, Patrick Barrineau, Brianna Hammond, Brooke Saari, Elizabeth Rentschler, Sarah Trimble et al.

      Pages 175-207

3. Mechanisms of Barrier Response to Changing Climate

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 209-209

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   2. Geometric Constraints on Long-Term Barrier Migration: From Simple to Surprising

      • A. Brad Murray, Laura J. Moore

      Pages 211-241

   3. Shoreface Controls on Barrier Evolution and Shoreline Change

      • Peter J. Cowell, Michael A. Kinsela

      Pages 243-275

   4. Morphodynamics of Barrier Response to Sea-Level Rise

      • Andrew D. Ashton, Jorge Lorenzo-Trueba

      Pages 277-304

   5. The Role of Ecomorphodynamic Feedbacks and Landscape Couplings in Influencing the Response of Barriers to Changing Climate

      • Laura J. Moore, Evan B. Goldstein, Orencio Durán Vinent, David Walters, Matthew Kirwan, Rebecca Lauzon et al.

      Pages 305-336

   6. The Role of Vegetation in Determining Dune Morphology, Exposure to Sea-Level Rise, and Storm-Induced Coastal Hazards: A U.S. Pacific Northwest Perspective

      • Peter Ruggiero, Sally Hacker, Eric Seabloom, Phoebe Zarnetske

      Pages 337-361

   7. Barrier Islands as Coupled Human–Landscape Systems

      • Dylan E. McNamara, Eli D. Lazarus

      Pages 363-383

4. Back Matter

   Pages 385-395

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This book presents chapters, written by leading coastal scientists, which collectively depict the current understanding of the processes that shape barrier islands and barrier spits, with an emphasis on the response of these landforms to changing conditions. A majority of the world’s population lives along the coast at the dynamic intersection between terrestrial and marine ecosystems and landscapes. As narrow, low-lying landforms, barriers are especially vulnerable to changes in sea level, storminess, the geographic distribution of grass species, and the rate of sand supply—some barriers will undergo rapid changes in state (e.g., from landward migrating to disintegrating), on human time scales. Attempts by humans to prevent change can hasten the loss of these landforms, threatening their continued existence as well as the recreational, financial and ecosystem service benefits they provide. Understanding the processes and interactions that drive landscape response to climate change andhuman actions is essential to adaptation. As managers and governments struggle to plan for the future along low-lying coasts worldwide, and scientists conduct research that provides useful guidance, this volume offers a much-needed compilation for these groups, as well as a window into the science of barrier dynamics for anyone who is generally interested in the impacts of a changing world on coastal environments.

• Barrier Islands
• Barrier Spits
• Climate Change
• Coastal geology
• Coastal vulnerability
• Geomorphologic change
• Sea-level rise
• Sediment Transport
• Shoreline change
• Climate change management
• coastal sciences

“This text represents an excellent launching point for those in need of a foundational understanding of the science of barrier dynamics, and for any researcher who might be interested in the impacts of climate change on coastal environments. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.” (W. Weston, Choice, Vol. 56 (2), October, 2018)

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

  Laura J. Moore

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

  A. Brad Murray

Dr. Laura J. Moore is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and the Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is an expert on large-scale coastal behavior, barrier island response to climate change, coastal dune dynamics, and couplings between physical, ecological and human dynamics in coastal systems.
Dr. A. Brad Murray is a Professor in the Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He is a geomorphologist studying landscape evolution, including couplings between physical, ecological, and human dynamics, and responses to changing climate and land use, with a strong focus on coastal environments.

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