rose and the estuary mouth retreated, as hypothesized by Swift, et al. 

 (1972). 



Goldsmith, Farrell, and Goldsmith (1974a) state that: 



"An example of the effects of these offshore shoal areas on near- 

 shore circulation patterns can be seen in the vicinity of Virginia 

 Beach, Virginia, which is greatly affected by the adjacent, extensive 

 Virginia Beach Massif. Here, the waves with periods of 10 seconds or 

 shorter from the north-northeast, northeast, and east-northeast are, 

 for the most part, refracted away from the resort area by the Virginia 

 Beach Massif to the Chesapeake Bay entrance and the Back Bay-False Cape 

 area. In a similar manner, waves from the east-southeast, southeast, 

 and south-southeast are concentrated in the Virginia Beach and adjacent 

 offshore area. These phenomena result in the dominant northward long- 

 shore transport observed in the Virginia Beach area; this might be 

 because greater wave energy reaches the area from the southern quad- 

 rants than from the north, resulting in a net nearshore sediment 

 transport to the north. Harrison, et al., 1964 suggested that the 

 observed northward sediment transport in the Virginia Beach area was 

 due to a large nontidal eddy related to the circulation originating 

 at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. It should therefore be noted that 

 both effects may be occurring and that neither the wave or current- 

 induced circulation patterns are mutually exclusive." 



The most significant nearshore features along the middle Atlantic 

 Bight are the nearshore, shoreline-attached, linear ridge systems, 

 shown in Goldsmith, Sutton, and Davis (1973) (Fig. 3), and discussed in 

 Swift, et al. (1972). One of the most notable and most studied ridge 

 systems is the False Cape ridge system consisting of three large 

 linear ridges attached to the shoreline in False Cape State Park. 

 McHone (1972) pointed out the nrocess interaction between the beach 

 and the nearshore morphology via the development and removal of 

 "saddles" across the False Cape ridge system. Unpublished profile data 

 collected separately by Swift, Shideler, McHone, and Goldsmith indicate 

 that the False Cape ridge system has an important influence on the 

 behavior of the adjacent beaches. Further discussions on the nearshore 

 geomorphology are in Goldsmith, et al. (1974b) and Goldsmith (1975c). 



3. Sediments . 



Beach sedimentological studies of the Outer Banks have been made 

 by Swift, et al. (1971), Swift, Dill and McHone (1971), Shideler (1973a, 

 1973b, 1973c, 1974), and Sabet (1973). These studies, which show that 

 the interpretation of coastal processes from grain size and mineralo- 

 gical data in this area is a very complex problem, are summarized in 



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