North Carolina's barrier islands, sculpted by wind and waves into an ever-changing resource of almost unsurpassed natural beauty, are examined in a new book by marine scientist Dirk Frankenberg.
The Nature of the Outer Banks (UNC Press) is a 157-page guide to the dynamic barrier island ecosystem from Corolla to Ocracoke.
The book, which provides a mile-by-mile description of the Outer Banks' habitats, grew out of Frankenberg's teaching, the Carolina professor said. His courses in oceanography and coastal processes always include field trips to allow students to see firsthand what they have heard about in lectures and read in textbooks.
"Studying nature in the field is far more effective than learning about it from books--a fact pointed out in the mid-1800s by Louis Agassiz, a pioneer in marine biology who is widely quoted as saying, `Study nature, not books,'" Frankenberg said. "I hope this book will encourage its readers to follow Agassiz's admonition and study nature directly."
The Outer Banks are unique among the world's coastal landforms in their distance from the mainland and their distinct shape, Frankenberg said.
Islet formation may be the most dramatic erosional process along the Outer Banks, but it is by no means the only one. The balance between erosion and deposition of sands affects practically every feature of banks geography.
"As a result, the geography of the Outer Banks is in a constant state of change," he said.
"Beaches erode and accrete as sand is removed or added; sandbars form and disappear; navigation channels shift; islands change shape as terminal sand spits elongate; dunes form, disappear and migrate to places they have never been before," Frankenberg said. "Anyone familiar with the banks knows that these events are not unusual. In fact, the only constant in natural banks habitats is that they are constantly changing."
The Outer Banks provide an excellent setting for direct study of natural processes, Frankenberg said. How the environment shapes the banks' structure and appearance is relatively easy to observe and understand, he said.
"The nature of the Outer Banks is a function of three major environmental processes--rising sea level, transport of sand by wind and water, and immobilization of sand by plant growth," he said.
The first chapter of his book details how the three processes affect the Outer Banks' shape. Interplay of those processes and specific Outer Banks habitats produced by the interactions are described in the second chapter.
The third chapter examines human use of the Outer Banks' fish, water and land resources and discusses development issues.
"An analysis of the human history of the Outer Banks reveals encouraging signs that their human inhabitants have come to realize that they cannot completely control the environment in which they live," Frankenberg said. "For example, the National Park Service now observes a policy of not protecting human construction from damage by natural forces, and some Outer Banks towns have accepted the fact that oceanfront real estate may be lost in storms."
The author dedicated his book to students, alumni and friends of UNC who have visited the coast with him. He also dedicated it to coastal residents, environmentalists and public servants who have worked hard to preserve the Outer Banks.
To the UNC Home Page