QUANTITATIVE SHORELINE CHANGE ANALYSIS OF THE GEORGIA COAST FROM TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY SHEETS

Stratigraphic framework studies of the Georgia barrier island system were at a peak in the 1970s and early 1980s, but considerably less research was done during the late 1980s and 1990s. Modern analytical methods, including GIS-based analyses, may provide more accurate estimates of shoreline change than previous research studies due to limitations in methods and equipment used at the time. Historical, non-photographic shoreline data from topographic survey sheets (T-sheets) of two of Georgia’s undeveloped barrier islands, Wassaw and St. Catherine’s Islands, were georeferenced and digitized for use as part of the USGS South Carolina/Georgia Coastal Erosion Study administered through the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. Although these undeveloped islands are not as critically in need of shoreline change data as more developed islands, they may serve as models for contrasting the coastal response of undeveloped systems with those of developed systems in the same region. Coastal change on these undeveloped islands will be compared to that from developed islands along the Georgia coast. Products generated in this portion of the study include a series of GIS maps showing positions of historical and recent shorelines, probable erosion hazard areas, and GIS-compatible tabulated data showing volumetric gains and losses of coastal lithosome for the study area.