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Virginian Barrier Islands and Coastal Marshes

Ecoregion in Atlantic Coastal Plain in NC, VA, MD, DE

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The Barrier Islands-Coastal Marshes ecoregion is composed of beaches, dunes, low terraces, beach ridges, and barrier islands that are fringed by lagoons, bays, tidal salt marshes, mudflats, anastomosing tidal channels, or ocean. An extensive barrier – back barrier system parallels much of the Atlantic shore (Owens and Denny, 1979). Elevations range from only 35 feet (11 m) to sea level. The Barrier Islands - Coastal Marshes (63d) ecoregion is more exposed to the open ocean than other nearby regions and, resultantly, its landforms are more dynamic. Significant wave and wind action occurs and has affected both landforms and the position of the shoreline itself. In the last 10,000 years, the overall trend for the sandy coastline has been westward retreat; from the mid-1950s or mid-1960s to the early-1980s, net erosion averaged five feet (1.5 m) per year (Bloom, 1983b). The barrier islands, in particular, have been heavily affected by hurricanes while protecting the mainland from erosion (Brown, 1997).

— EPA

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Virginian Barrier Islands and Coastal Marshes

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