Barrier-island genesis: evidence from the central atlantic shelf, eastern U.S.A.

Abstract Since most barrier systems appear to have retreated into their present positions from further out on the continental shelf, the continental shelf is a logical place in which to investigate barrier genesis. The Middle Atlantic Bight of North America, one of the best known shelf sectors, does not appear to contain any drowned barriers. Instead, a series of terraces bear on their surfaces a discontinuous carpet of lagoonal sediments beneath a discontinuous sand sheet formed by erosional barrier retreat. Scarps separating terraces are the lower shorefaces of stillstand barriers whose superstructures were destroyed when shoreface retreat resumed. Thus the “origin” of most barriers is that they have retreated in from the position of their immediate predecessors. Barrier genesis, in the classic sense of large-scale, coastwise spit progradation or mainland-beach detachment, could only have occurred at Late Wisconsin lowstand, when the sense of sea-level displacement was reversed. The relative roles of coastwise spit progradation and mainland-beach detachment depend on coastal relief and slope, with steep, rugged coasts favoring spit progradation at the expense of mainland-beach detachment. Since most major barrier systems form on flat coastal plains, it would appear that mainland-beach detachment is the more important mode of barrier formation. During stillstands or periods of reduction in the rate of sea-level rise, coasts can more nearly approach their climax configuration, in which the shoreline is relatively straight, and the shoreface is well developed and of maximum possible slope. Coastal adjustments during such periods may require localized mainland-beach detachment and coastwise spit progradation, in order to attain such a configuration.