. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. The Making Of A Dune By Nancy Davis For some folks, dunes are little more than piles of sand they cross to reach the beach. Sunbathers trample them. Surf fishermen plow through them in four-wheel drives. And some proper- ty owners don't appreciate the ser- vices they provide. Sometimes it seems only artists and photographers take notice of them. But sand dunes are much more than pretty backdrops for paintings and pictures. They provide a front line of defense against the power of ocean winds and waves. &qu
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. The Making Of A Dune By Nancy Davis For some folks, dunes are little more than piles of sand they cross to reach the beach. Sunbathers trample them. Surf fishermen plow through them in four-wheel drives. And some proper- ty owners don't appreciate the ser- vices they provide. Sometimes it seems only artists and photographers take notice of them. But sand dunes are much more than pretty backdrops for paintings and pictures. They provide a front line of defense against the power of ocean winds and waves. "Dunes are an integral part of a barrier island's ability to maintain itself,'' says Sea Grant researcher John Wells. "The most important thing about a dune is that it's a natural buffer to storm waves and an essential compo- nent in the sand-sharing system," says Wells, a coastal marine biologist at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences. But in their role of island protector, dunes take a terrible beating. Winds and waves pound them. And occa- sionally, storms sweep them away. But even though one dune disap- pears, eventually another mound of sand will take its place. The continual waxing and waning of a sand dune is part of a natural process, Wells says. He describes a dune as a reservoir of sand. During storms, waves may carry part of the sand in the reser- voir a short distance offshore. There, the sand may form sand bars that lessen wave action. Eventually, the sea's natural wave action will deposit some of that sand back on the beach where it will be available as building material for another dune. If you've ever felt the twinge of fine grains of sand blasting your ankles as you walk along the beach, you've witnessed a dune under con- struction, says Sea Grant coastal engineer Spencer Rogers. ' All it takes to build a sand dune is windblown sand and something to trap it," Rogers says. "And all it takes to get it to fall out of
Size: 1669px × 1497px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
