STARK COMPARISONS OF AN ISLAND BEACH COMPLEX - INFLUENCE FROM MAN AND STORMS

Field trips to Island Beach State Park (IBSP), NJ, are part of Oceanography and Sedimentology class experiences offered at Susquehanna University. Students are shown how the island has been modified by man near Seaside Park, north of IBSP, before being introduced to how the island should appear in the 11 mile long, pristine park. An ecosystem approach is used to define subenvironments of the barrier island complex at IBSP and data including diversity of organisms and how they adapt to changing conditions, wind and wave energy, light intensity, water chemistry, and sediments are collected.

Discussions on how storms like Hurricane Sandy and sea level change influence the landscape, organisms, and geomorphology are held throughout the field trip so that students consider how storms are capable of modifying the environment. Though the trip is usually meant to demonstrate how barrier islands operate, major storm events provide an important reminder of how rapidly this transient environment can be greatly altered. Some observations related to recent storm activity include heavy mineral and gravel lags, sharply eroded primary dune scarp slopes, skeletal debris washed above the berm and movement of the berm, a thick, large wedge of flood-storm sand in the bay, modified channels, and washover deposits in the thicket are used to illustrate how the island has been influenced and modified during high energy events like coastal storms.

The trip provides the basis for understanding barrier islands and how we have modified these environments. It also provides a means to demonstrate how normal physical processes and storm activity can be observed and recorded in the sedimentary record.