55
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. J. Culver (ed.), Troubled Waters, Springer Climate,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52383-1_4
Chapter 4
Barrier Island Breakdown: The Ephemeral
Outer Banks of North Carolina
Stephen J. Culver
Abstract This chapter describes sudden coastal change that took place in North
Carolina, USA 1200 years ago during a period of warmth in the northern hemisphere known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly. It explains how we know that this
event occurred, and it describes the geologic tools that we used to reconstruct the
event. A large segment of the Outer Banks barrier islands was flattened, probably by
one or more strong hurricanes. Oceanic waters entered estuarine Pamlico Sound,
which metamorphosed into an open Pamlico Bay. The tidal range increased, tidal
currents increased in strength, salinity increased, and fish migrated as they adapted
to new conditions. Human inhabitants of the region would also have had no choice
but to adapt. Over 500 years the barrier islands were reconstructed and pre-storm
conditions returned by the time the first Europeans landed on this coast in 1585. A
similar series of events could occur once more in coastal North Carolina during the
current period of global warming. Economic effects would be disastrous.
Keywords North Carolina · Outer Banks · Pamlico Sound · Medieval Climate
Anomaly · Hurricanes · Sea-level rise · Foraminifera · Barrier island segmentation
A Big Event
Something happened in coastal North Carolina, USA 1200 years ago. The southern
part of the Outer Banks barrier islands, which had formed several thousand years
earlier, were, for want of a better word, decimated. Large portions of this almost
continuous chain of barrier islands that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean (see chapter
by Mallinson) disappeared. The sand that formed the islands was smeared out and
S. J. Culver (*)
Department of Geological Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
e-mail: culvers@ecu.edu
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. J. Culver (ed.), Troubled Waters, Springer Climate,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52383-1_4
Chapter 4
Barrier Island Breakdown: The Ephemeral
Outer Banks of North Carolina
Stephen J. Culver
Abstract This chapter describes sudden coastal change that took place in North
Carolina, USA 1200 years ago during a period of warmth in the northern hemisphere known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly. It explains how we know that this
event occurred, and it describes the geologic tools that we used to reconstruct the
event. A large segment of the Outer Banks barrier islands was flattened, probably by
one or more strong hurricanes. Oceanic waters entered estuarine Pamlico Sound,
which metamorphosed into an open Pamlico Bay. The tidal range increased, tidal
currents increased in strength, salinity increased, and fish migrated as they adapted
to new conditions. Human inhabitants of the region would also have had no choice
but to adapt. Over 500 years the barrier islands were reconstructed and pre-storm
conditions returned by the time the first Europeans landed on this coast in 1585. A
similar series of events could occur once more in coastal North Carolina during the
current period of global warming. Economic effects would be disastrous.
Keywords North Carolina · Outer Banks · Pamlico Sound · Medieval Climate
Anomaly · Hurricanes · Sea-level rise · Foraminifera · Barrier island segmentation
A Big Event
Something happened in coastal North Carolina, USA 1200 years ago. The southern
part of the Outer Banks barrier islands, which had formed several thousand years
earlier, were, for want of a better word, decimated. Large portions of this almost
continuous chain of barrier islands that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean (see chapter
by Mallinson) disappeared. The sand that formed the islands was smeared out and
S. J. Culver (*)
Department of Geological Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
e-mail: culvers@ecu.edu