Images

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to ground-truth geophysical observations. These cores are used to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

This image displays expected overwash probabilities at Cape Canaveral given a typical nor’easter storm striking the coast.

An eroded dune due to waves striking the base of the dune (called a "collision regime"), during a storm. This erosion left the dune narrower and more susceptible to future damage by creating a scarp. Collision at a dune toe can erode and collapse dunes, creating a scarp feature. 

Waves flow onto the lower beach (called swash) but do not reach the dune toe on the Long Island Southshore, East Hampton, NY. Photo by 

Waves carrying sand back to the beach, forming a sandbar after an erosion event. This image demonstrates how eroded sediment typically returns to the beach after a storm. Ponquague Beach, Hampton Bays, NY

Waves return sand to a beach forming a sandbar after an erosion event during a storm, at Ponquague Beach, Hampton Bays, NY.

Waves flow onto a beach after a wave break on the part of the beach called the 'swash zone' (labeled).

Waves flow onto a beach after a wave break on the part of the beach called the 'swash zone'. 

The Native communities’ in-ground food storage facilities are being lost as a result of eroding bluffs and thawing permafrost.

Though this image was taken prior to the peak of the Nor'Ida storm event, elevated water levels have already eroded the oceanside of a primary dune.

Low dunes on Cape Canaveral often overwash during storm events, transporting sand landward. Critical infrastructure may be buried or flooded. In addition, significant landward transport of sand may lead to extensive shoreline erosion. 

Photo showing turtle tracks leading from a nest on a dune at Cape Canaveral.

Kristen Hart releasing a satellite-tagged hawksbill sea turtle, August 2008, Dry Tortugas National Park.

USGS staff collecting a sediment core on Ft. Desoto Beach, Florida using vibracoring equipment. This type of sediment coring uses the vibration of an electric motor to sink an aluminum core barrel into the ground. When the core barrel enters the ground the sediment in the ground fills up the barrel and the crew uses the tripod to pull the core out of the ground.

Flooded coastal streets, houses, and fields after Hurricane Ike passes through Texas

Scanning electron microsope image of the planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber

A coastal dune in Ponquague Beach, Long Island, NY with the dune crest and dune toe labeled. 

A coastal dune with vegetation on Ponquague Beach, Long Island, NY. 

A typical beach system with a tall, vegetated dune, fronted by a bare sand berm, east of Shinnecock Inlet on Long Island, NY near Ponquague Beach.

A healthy coastal dune with a wide vegetated region, Ponguogue Beach, Long Island, NY.

Dauphin Island, Alabama. Map views of post-storm difference grids for Hurricanes Ivan (A) and Katrina (B), and vertical photography of the same location (C). The lidar images show elevation gains (green) and losses (red).