Estuarine
barrier islands in the Delaware Bay provide critical habitat for a variety of organisms, including nesting piping plovers and
breeding horseshoe crabs. They also act as natural buffers for fragile salt-marsh
ecosystems, diminishing physical energy from waves and currents. However, relatively
little is known about their specific response to local relative sea level rise,
which threatens to overtake these islands. Sea level rise will reduce
available habitat and expose delicate salt marshes to heavy wave action. Our
aim is to better understand the geological processes driving erosion and
migration along these unique landforms. Our study site consists of several bayside barrier islands in the Delaware Bay off the coast of
southern New Jersey. We took surface sediment samples at regular intervals along
the islands in order to analyze cross-shore and longshore sediment transport.
These sediment samples were analyzed using a Cam-Sizer particle analysis tool
to generate cumulative distribution curves of grain sizes. The curves were
analyzed according to standard granulometric parameters to understand sediment transport.
This information will be integrated with further geological and historical
analyses of the Delaware Bay to form a geomorphic response model. This model will
provide a planning tool for future generations of researchers and coastal
engineers.
