Grain‐size distributions and coastal morphodynamics along the southern Maryland and Virginia barrier islands

Abstract

AbstractThis study examined grain‐size distributions to address questions regarding geological and oceanographic controls on island morphodynamics along one of the longest undeveloped, mixed‐energy barrier island systems in the world. In particular, statistical analyses (i.e. analysis of variance, Tukey honest significant difference multiple comparison tests, nonparametric statistics and linear regression analysis) of 230 barrier island samples from Ocean City Inlet, Maryland, to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and 134 nearshore samples (d ≤ 10 m) identified grain‐size trends related to the morphodynamic characteristics of these systems. In general, the Virginia barrier islands north of Wachapreague Inlet and Assateague Island form a statistically different subset of grain sizes (medium‐grained to coarse‐grained sand) from the islands south of Wachapreague Inlet (fine‐grained sand). These textural trends corroborate the Pleistocene headlands of the Delmarva coastal compartment as the sediment source and indicate that some of the coarse‐grained to medium‐grained sediment bypasses the large sinks in the net southward longshore sediment transport system (i.e. Fishing Point and Chincoteague Inlet). This research also demonstrates that the preferential accumulation of coarse‐grained to medium‐grained sand on the ebb‐tidal delta at Wachapreague Inlet probably controls the erosional morphodynamics of the islands located downdrift (south) of the inlet. These results suggest that an increase in tidal prism, set up by sea‐level rise and/or a shift in wave climate/refraction patterns, may lead to barrier island fragmentation and a runaway transgression of this predominantly natural barrier island system. Consequently, a grain analysis of major coastal compartments, across multiple driving forces, can be used to assess coastal morphodynamics and the potential impact of climate change on coastal systems.