I used to think that washover fans were all event deposits. A major storm, such as a hurricane, impacts a barrier island, causes overwash, transports sand across the island, and deposits a washover fan. After the storm passes, vegetation colonizes the washover, traps wind-blown sand, and builds island elevation and resistance to further overwash. While that general model is certainly applicable to many washover fans, others take time to form. We recently published a paper in Scientific Reports “Long-term washover fan accretion on a transgressive barrier island challenges the assumption that paleotempestites represent individual tropical cyclones” that tracks washover deposition over a 3-year period. The study shows that washover deposits can accrete landward over multi-year time scales in the absence of large storms. Monitoring began in 2011 and above is a recent image of the site taken in 2020 (false color). Overwash is still an active process nearly 10 years after washover deposition initiated. Currently, sand is being deposited in the intracoastal waterway.
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I’m looking for new graduate students to join the Rodriguez Lab. If you are interested in coastal science including sedimentology, geomorphology, and/or ecology look through this website to see if what we do is compatible with your interests.
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Lab Musings (mostly)
- RT @UNCims: We work w/ extraordinary people. Check out what our amazing Business Officer has been doing during quarantine. https://t.co/7… 10:20:21 PM January 02, 2021 from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
- RT @MollyBost: Field Site in a Pandemic https://t.co/JVxk7QqUqX 02:26:35 AM December 20, 2020 from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
- I often feel like I’m spinning my wheels so this means a lot. Thank you. https://t.co/OYNSfbcPZz 01:40:36 PM December 07, 2020 from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
Lesson plans for middle- and high-school teachers that focus on estuarine fish habitats can be found here.
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Recent Posts
- Deposition of a washover fan can take some time December 8, 2020
- MHC Field Site 2020 August 15, 2020
- The Ups and Downs of Publishing June 26, 2020
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