Collecting a vibracore from Onslow Beach, NC.
There are many reasons to collect cores from a beach. One of the most interesting is to look back in time and see what environments used to be where the beach is today. The core is like a time machine, or better yet, a history book. You just have to learn the language geology. The cores we took today tell us that there used to be a saltmarsh where the beach is, because below the beach sand we sampled old marsh plants. Before the saltmarsh, an estuary occupied the area because we sampled gray mud with an oyster reef below the marsh sediment. This stacking pattern of different environments is evidence that sea level has been rising in the area of Onslow Beach, NC. Earth’s history is beneath our feet and collecting cores is one way of exposing it.
