the pier, as well as data illustrating the importance of seasonal versus 

 storm-dependent changes in the immediate vicinity, should materially aid 

 the design and timing of experimental studies at the pier site. 



If significantly different long-term trends on adjacent natural 

 beaches are shown, then the need for detailed site-specific studies be- 

 fore the instigation of remedial measures would be further emphasized. 

 If these variations in beach behavior are shown to be related to beach 

 usage (commercial, residential, military, or natural), then additional 

 information can be involved in the coastal zone planning process that 

 would add to improved results. Specifically, use zoning could be con- 

 sidered for the more erosional beaches. The Back Bay National Wildlife 

 Refuge and False Cape State Park are currently reevaluating their roles 

 with respect to future services to the recreational public, and are 

 requiring this base-line information on shoreline trends for their 

 planning. Since Back Bay may tend to have narrow erosional beaches, 

 documentation of these and future trends is of great interest to the 

 Back Bay planners (D. Hollands, manager, personal communication, 1974) 

 with respect to vehicular access, dune fencing programs, and others. 



An important application, unrelated to this study, involves the 

 comparison of the long-term beach trends and specific storm-induced 

 profile changes with computed wave data from the Virginian Sea Wave 

 Climate Model (Goldsmith, et al . , 1974b; Goldsmith, 1975c) to further 

 refine the model and extend its usefulness. 



However, the main thrust of this report is to provide base-line, 

 interpreted data for the large variety of Federal, State, and local 

 agencies involved in the planning and management of this 42-kilometer- 

 long coastal area, varying widely in usage and beach behavior. 



II. LOCALITY 

 1 . Geography . 



The nomenclature "southeast Virginia coastal compartment," defined 

 here as the concave-seaward stretch of coast between Cape Henry 

 and the Virginia-North Carolina State line, is unique to this investi- 

 gator, but is not arbitrary usage. Historically, the northern limit 

 of the Outer Banks was at Old Currituck Inlet near the Virginia-North 

 Carolina State line. The inlet has been closed since about 1829. 

 From a coastal processes point of view, it is best to consider the 

 stretch of coast between Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras (encompassing 

 the study area) as a classic coastal spit-barrier island complex, 

 with Cape Henry being the headland, and the net annual transport to 

 the south (Fisher, 1967) . The northern two-thirds of this coast (with 



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