Introduction
Barrier islands are wave-built accumulations of sediment that accrete vertically due to wave action and wind processes and are separated from adjacent barriers or headlands by tidal inlets. Most are linear features that tend to parallel the coast, generally occurring in groups or chains. Barriers are separated from the mainland by a region termed the backbarrier consisting of tidal flats, shallow bays, lagoons and/or marsh systems. Barrier islands may be less than 100 m wide or more than several kilometers in width. Likewise, they range in length from several hundred meters to certain barriers along open coasts that extend for more than 100 km. Generally, barrier islands are wide where the supply of sediment has been abundant and relatively narrow where erosion rates are high or where the sediment was scarce during their formation. Their length is partly a function of sediment supply but is also strongly influenced by wave versus tidal energy of the region.
Coastal...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Bernard, H.A., Major, C.F., Parrott, B.S., and LeBlanc, R.J., 1970. Recent sediments of Southeast Texas: a field guide to the Brazos alluvial and deltaic plains and the Galveston barrier island complex. Univ. of Texas—Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Guidebook No. 11.
Davis, R.A. Jr. (ed.), 1994. Geology of Holocene Barrier Island Systems. Springer-Verlag.
FitzGerald, D.M., Rosen, P.S., and van Heteren, S., 1994. New England barriers. In Davis, R.A. Jr. (ed.), Geology of Holocene Barrier Island Systems. Springer-Verlag, pp. 305–394.
FitzGerald, D.M., and van Heteren, S., 1999. Classification of paraglacial barrier systems: coastal New England, USA. Sedimentology, 46: 1083–1108.
Hayes, M.O., 1979. Barrier island morphology as a function of tidal and wave regime. In Leatherman, S.P. (ed.), Barrier islands: from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. New York: Academic Press, pp. 1–28.
Hoyt, J.H., 1967. Barrier island formation. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 78: 1123–1136.
Inman, D.L., and Nordstrom, C.E., 1971. On the tectonic and morphologic classification of coasts. Journal of Geology, 79: 1–21.
Jol, H.M., Smith, D.G., and Meyers, R.A., 1996. Digital ground penetrating radar (GPR): an improved and very effective geophysical tool for studying modern coastal barriers (examples for the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts, U.S.A.). Journal of Coastal Research, 12: 960–968.
Kraft, J.C., and John, C.J., 1979. Lateral and vertical facies relations of transgressive barriers. Bulletin of American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 63: 2145–2163.
Leatherman, S.P., 1979. Barrier Island Handbook. Amherst, Massachusetts.
Moslow, T.F., and Heron, S.D., 1978. Relict inlets: preservation and occurrence in the Holocene stratigraphy of southern Core Banks, North Carolina. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 48: 1275–1286.
Moslow, T.F., and Colquhoun, D.J., 1981. Influence of sea-level change on barrier island evolution. Oceanis, 7: 439–454.
Penland, S., and Boyd, R., 1985. Transgressive depositional environments of the Mississippi River Delta plain: a guide to the barrier islands, beaches, and shoals of Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA, Louisiana Geological Survey, Guidebook Series #3.
Reinson, G.E., 1984. Barrier island and associated strand-plain systems. In Walker, R.G. (ed.), Facies Models. Geoscience Canada Reprint Series 1: pp. 119–140.
Reinson, G.E., 1992. Transgressive barrier island and estuarine systems. In Walker, R.G., and James, N.P. (eds.), Facies Models: Response to Sea Level Change. Geological Association of Canada, pp. 179–194.
Roy, P.S., Cowell, P.J., Ferland, M.A., and Thom, B.G., 1994. Wave-dominated coasts. In Carter, R.W.G., and Woodroffe, C.D. (eds.), Coastal Evolution: Late Quaternary shoreline morphodynamics. Cambridge University Press, pp. 121–186.
Schwartz, M.L., 1973. Barrier islands. Stroudsburg, PA: Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross.
van Heteren, S., FitzGerald, D.M., McKinlay, P.A., and Buynevich, I.V., 1998. Radar facies of paraglacial barrier systems: coastal New England, USA. Sedimentology, 45: 181–200.
Cross-references
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1978 Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc.
About this entry
Cite this entry
FitzGerald, D.M., Buynevich, I.V. (1978). Barrier islands. In: Sedimentology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-0-87933-152-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31079-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive