The nature of the Outer Banks: environmental processes, field sites, and development issues, Corolla to Ocracoke

Abstract

North Carolina's Outer Banks, like barrier islands worldwide, are in constant motion, responding to weather, waves, and rising sea level. Beaches erode, sometimes taking homes or sections of highway with them into the surf; sand dunes migrate with the wind; and storms open new inlets and dump sand in channels and sounds. The Nature of the Outer describes these dynamic natural forces, explaining how they affect barrier islands in general and the Banks in particular, and guides visitors to sites where they can see these phenomena in action. Dirk Frankenberg highlights the three major environmental processes affecting the Outer Banks: rising sea level, movement of sand by wind and water, and stabilization of sand by plant life. He then provides a mile-by-mile field guide to the northern Banks, from Corolla to Ocracoke, pointing out where and how visitors can observe environmental processes at work. Drawings illustrate how natural forces produce constant change, and photographs show real-world examples. In the final section of the book, Frankenberg addresses the environmental impact of human consumption of the Outer Banks' natural resources.