Abstract Humans are an integral component of barrier island systems throughout the world. The diversity of cultures (e.g., economics, politics) present has as much influence on barrier island evolution as the diversity of environments (e.g., climate) in which they are found. The actions of humans affect three inherent properties of barrier islands: Each island is individually unique in its physical and ecological setting (affected by direct “local” human activity), each island is linked to a chain of adjacent islands through longshore transport (affected by “regional” activity elsewhere), and each island responds dynamically to environmental change through cross-shore transport (affected by regional activity and shoreline stabilization). Geomorphic carrying capacity is the resilience of barrier islands to human impacts. Geomorphic risk factors serve as a basis for predicting resiliency, providing both a measure of dynamic change (erosion rate and storm frequency) and available buffer space (island width and elevation). As risk factors increase, the dynamic and spatial character of an island comes into greater conflict with human landscape elements and is more likely to be altered. The relative influence of humans on barrier island evolution can be estimated by comparing the anthropogenic impacts on the three major island properties to the island's carrying capacity. When the three properties have been completely altered, an island becomes entirely human-dominated, or “terminated.” Carrying capacity can indicate whether stabilization, retreat, or abandonment is the best long-term management option.

Abstract This four-day field trip will include 21 field stops along a 105-km reach of Maryland’s and Virginia’s barrier-island coast along the Delmarva Peninsula. Along the way, we will cover aspects of barrier-island and nearshore geology and of barrier-island and backbarrier marsh process-response morphodynamic systems in two hydrodynamic settings: (1) the wave-dominated Assateague Island along the northern Delmarva Peninsula and (2) the mixed-energy Virginia barrier islands along the southern Delmarva Peninsula. We will also examine anthropogenic impacts on barrier-island systems at Ocean City Inlet, Maryland, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Wallops Island, Virginia.

Abstract In 1886, a large earthquake (∼M6.9–M7.3) rocked the Summerville-Charleston South Carolina area along the southeastern coast of North America. The largest east coast earthquake in North America, the earthquake caused massive damage to the cities and left ∼100 people dead. No surface rupture has ever been located; however, ongoing seismicity and damage from the 1886 earthquake has helped scientists to locate the active faults at depth and to identify potential surface offsets. The first day of the field trip will look at the damage from the earthquake as a means of understanding more about the mechanics of the earthquake. As the field trip moves into downtown Charleston, the damage will be examined as a proxy for how earthquakes cause buildings to fail and the type of damage a future earthquake could cause. The ongoing seismic activity along the suspected causal faults suggests that the earthquake risk in the Summerville-Charleston area remains high, and so the second day of the field trip will focus on the potential effects of a moderate to large earthquake in the region of the 1886 earthquake. One of the unique features of the Charleston-Summerville area is the high potential for widespread liquefaction and damage to the many bridges in the area. Therefore, Day 2 will focus on the potential for damage from a major earthquake on bridges and highly liquefiable sites by visiting a bridgeport area and then a barrier island. The visit to the barrier island highlights one of the main problems in Charleston in the event of an earthquake, the isolation of communities, with over 720 bridges and many more culverts in the area it is expected that people will be isolated in small communities for long periods of time.