As a result of the natural setting plus poor development and management decisions, the town of North Topsail Beach on Topsail Island, North Carolina, is the state's most vulnerable barrier-island community. It is our view that this very narrow, low, and duneless island community is the most hazardous on the U.S. East Coast. Although most of North Topsail Beach was designated a CoBRA unit under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982, the area has been developed extensively (mostly post-1980), starting with “mom and pop” beach cottages, and evolving into large single-family rental houses, duplexes, and several medium- and high-rise hotels and condos. Over the years, North Topsail Beach has experienced property losses from storm surge, overwash, flooding, inlet migration, new inlet formation, and chronic shoreline erosion. The single evacuation road crosses seven swash channels and is flooded early in every significant storm. A political cauldron has evolved, often featuring the front-row property owners versus those behind the front row, in which this middle-class town seeks to solve its problems. Debate centers on beach erosion problems, including proposed beach nourishment; exemptions to banned shore hardening; and construction of a proposed terminal groin and inlet channel realignment.

Abstract The dynamic nature of coastal morphology and oceanographic conditions poses a particular challenge to transporting personnel and equipment across a land-sea interface, e.g., locating the position of potentially hazardous bathymetric features, and assessing the stability of beach staging areas over time scales ranging from hours to months. In addition, feedbacks among (1) nearshore bathymetry, (2) waves and nearshore circulation, and (3) underlying geology directly affect the morphology of the adjacent beach as well as the shoreline’s response to storm events, resulting in localized erosional “hotspots.” These hotspots are potentially hazardous for equipment and personnel staging along the beach, but they are not easily identifiable from a time-series of aerial photographs alone. We identify several environmental metrics necessary for the reliable prediction of potential coastal landing and staging hazards, including: (1) nearshore bathymetric gradients, (2) nearshore sediment volume, and (3) changes in shoreline and vegetation line position. Coupled with a quantitative understanding of the relevant coastal processes, these data allow an assessment of potential nearshore bathymetric hazards and realistic predictions of short-term shoreline stability and thus suitability for the temporary staging of equipment and personnel. These metrics are applied to Onslow Beach, North Carolina, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, the largest amphibious training ground in the United States, and they are used to identify potential amphibious transit and staging hazards along the entire coastal zone, from the beach out to ~11 m water depth.

Abstract: Interpretation of the well-studied temporal record of predation by drilling gastropods requires understanding spatial patterns in drilling, in order to dissect any environmental trends from evolutionary patterns. However, current knowledge of spatial patterns in drilling at one time is incomplete; some studies have observed an increase, and others a decrease, in drilling with latitude. Because drilling is a slow process that puts the predator at risk, it has been hypothesized that frequency of successful drilling should increase, and that of failed drilling should decrease, at higher latitudes, where enemies pose fewer risks. To test this hypothesis, we collected bulk samples of modern molluscs from beach assemblages from Maine (43° N latitude) to the Florida Keys (25° N). The frequency of complete (successful) and incomplete and multiple (failed) drillholes was tabulated for higher and lower taxa from 24 samples (> 11,000 specimens). We explored latitudinal variation in drilling by comparing patterns among the Nova Scotian, Virginian, Carolinian, and Gulf molluscan provinces. Results were more complex than predicted. Drilling frequencies were greatest in the Carolinian Province and declined to the north and south for arcid bivalves, infaunal bivalves, and the total fauna (bivalves + gastropods; provincial frequencies for the total fauna were as follows: Nova Scotian, 8%; Virginian, 13%; Carolinian, 28%; and Gulf Province, 15%), and for the genus Spisula. In contrast, failed drilling, though infrequent, was typically more common in the Gulf Province than in the Carolinian Province (4% vs. 1% for most groups). Possible explanations for the patterns include: (1) taxa from more tropical localities may be better defended against predators, producing lower drilling frequencies and higher incidence of failed drilling; (2) presence of multiple predators in warmer waters may decrease drilling on bivalve prey if predators interfere with or prey upon one another; (3) at cooler latitudes, slower metabolisms may produce lower drilling frequencies; (4) alternative predation modes such as smothering may be more common at higher latitudes, resulting in lower drilling frequencies. Despite the apparent patterns, spatial variability reinforces the need to examine multiple samples in order to characterize the drilling frequency at a single location (or time interval).

Abstract A review of practical approaches to drift exploration intended for use by exploration geologists working in drift covered areas is presented. The contrasting styles of glacial dispersal between Labrador, dominated by the effects of the Laurentide ice sheet, and the Island of Newfoundland, affected by small, coalescing ice caps at the glacial maximum and smaller topographically-controlled ice centres during deglaciation, are described. The effect has been to produce longer, ribbon-shaped dispersal trains in Labrador, except in the Labrador Trough near the centre of the Labrador sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and shorter more diffuse dispersal patterns in Newfoundland.