for this type of beach (Clifton, Hunter, and Phillips, 1971). Waves 

 pass through the buildup zone and become higher and steeper until they 

 break. After breaking, the waves progress through the surf zone and 

 terminate in the swash zone. An asymmetric ripple facies occurs off- 

 shore and merges with ^ megaripple area in the buildup zone. The inner 

 buildup zone and part of the surf zone cover the outer planar facies, 

 while the inner rough facies occurs under tlie rest of the surf zone. 

 The inner planar facies is in the swash zone. All of these zones occur 

 at the FRF beach, and the line of demarkation between the outer planar 

 facies and the inner rough facies is very abrupt. 



The sound beach is wide and sloping, and periodically exposed or 

 covered by wind tides. The major features of the beach are a small 

 riprapped promontory at the southern end which was created by erosion 

 at the edge of the riprap, an eroded and steeply banked shoreline, a 

 small natural marsh bordering the riprapped area, and a large area of 

 submerged and emergent vegetation which was planted near the natural 

 marsh by CERC personnel to stop erosion. Levy (1976] found 22 species 

 of wetlands plants in this area; Scirpus amerioanus , Aster tenuifolius , 

 D-istiahlis spicata, Eloaharis sp. , and Hydvocotyle umhellata are the 

 most common species. 



Most of the beach is barren 500 to 800 feet from shore. Here, 

 small Vallisneria plants occur which are gradually replaced by a solid 

 stand of Ruppia at about 1,000 to 1,200 feet. The water in the area is 

 oligohaline, varying from a salinity of 0.5 to 5.0 parts per thousand. 



The first comprehensive study of benthic communities was performed 

 in the North Sea by Peterson (1924). He established the major benthic 

 communities and discussed the environmental factors limiting their 

 distribution. 



The earliest comprehensive study of marine sandy beach fauna in 

 the eastern United States was conducted at Beaufort, North Carolina, 

 by Pearse, Humm, and IVharton (1942). They examined the species 

 composition of beach communities from the foreshore slope to deep 

 water, and gave the zonal distributions for several animals. Emerita 

 tatpoida was abundant in the intertidal region, and Donax sp. was also 

 found in this region. The burrowing amphipod, Haustorius , was most 

 abundant on inundated shoals. This study provided information on sand 

 beach fauna, but quantitative sampling and a systematic sampling plan 

 were not used. 



Cerame-Vivas jnd Gray (1966) studied the distributional pattern of 

 benthic invertebrates of the Continental Shelf off North Carolina, but 

 did not include beach fauna. 



There have been no quantitative studies on benthic communities of 

 high-energy beaches on the east coast of the United States. These 

 beaches are difficult to sample, and earlier research has focused on 

 the benthic communities of protected and easily sampled beaches. 



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