. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Rising sea level, sinking land, low topograp The figures are startling. For the past 18,000 years, erosion has been claiming parts of the North Carolina estuarine shore. An average of two to three feet is lost each year, with storms swiping up to 20 feet at a time: the Soil Conservation Service estimates that more than 60 million tons of earth have been eroded in the past 30 years. "Basically, the entire North Carolina shoreline is eroding," according to East Carolina University (ECU) geolog
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Rising sea level, sinking land, low topograp The figures are startling. For the past 18,000 years, erosion has been claiming parts of the North Carolina estuarine shore. An average of two to three feet is lost each year, with storms swiping up to 20 feet at a time: the Soil Conservation Service estimates that more than 60 million tons of earth have been eroded in the past 30 years. "Basically, the entire North Carolina shoreline is eroding," according to East Carolina University (ECU) geologist Stan Riggs. "A few places are accreting, but that's ephemeral and local. The long-term process taking place is one of erosion. "The reason is simple. We have a rising sea level—about one foot per century. Plus we have a good share of North Carolina—the northeast— which is sinking. A third factor which is very critical is that there is very low topography on most of North Carolina's eastern estuarine shore. This means that a very slight rise in sea level makes a very great change in elevation. With land that's only two feet above sea level, in 200 years you can see a tremendous ; Before North Carolina's mainland shores considered prime property, no one worried m about erosion. The loss of land was accepted "nature's ; But now with vacationers clan ing and paying top prices for second-home s with water frontage, the estuarine shorelin< more valuable. So when "nature takes its coui and causes a little of the precious soil to sink low water level, there is quite an economic imp Riggs, ECU geologist Michael O'Connor ECU biologist Vince Bellis have been looking estuarine erosion, with the help of Sea Grant fui for the past two years. They have tracked 1,400 miles of the coast on their hardy ves "Sweet Agona," a 37 foot Chesapeake Bay oyi boat named after the Indian maiden of "quest able looks" who fell in love
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