The only beach locations showing any significant erosion after the 

 12 March 1976 storm were at profile lines 3, 5, 7, and 11. A 0.8-meter- 

 high scarp was observed at profile line 6, and several asymmetric cusps 

 oriented northeast through southwest were observed at profile line 7, 

 suggesting that profile line 7 recovered faster than 6, or was signif- 

 icantly less eroded. Profile lines 4, 6, 10, 12, and 13 showed slight 

 accretion, and profile lines 15 and 16 appeared unchanged. 



The 10 April 1976 storm was also not a significant storm event. 

 The only profile lines showing any significant erosion were 2, 4, 9, 

 11, and 12. Remaining unchanged were profile lines 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 

 and 15. Beach-shore ponding was observed both north and south of 

 profile line 1. Late in the afternoon of 10 April, plunging waves, 

 45 to 65 meters offshore, were observed in the Virginia Beach area. 

 These waves were significant because they were attaining heights of 3 

 to 4 meters . 



On 10 August 1976, the storm effects from the passing of Hurricane 

 Belle through the study area were surveyed. The only erosion was 

 observed at profile lines 5, 11, 12, 16, and 18. Profile lines 1, 7, 

 9, 10, and 14 showed overall accretional tendencies, while profile 

 lines 2, 6, and 13 remained unchanged. From the survey data it appeared 

 that sand from the foreshore was eroded and transported onshore with 

 the storm's high water and deposited on the upper beach area. The 

 hurricane passed at low tide, which was probably why erosion was only 

 minimal. Ponding was observed at profile lines 1 and 14. 



In summary, there are large variations in beach behavior among the 

 18 profile locations resulting from storms. Storm erosion was 

 most severe at profile lines 3 (Virginia Beach) , 9 (Sandbridge) , 11 

 (Back Bay) , and 18 (False Cape) . However, some storm events which do 

 a lot of damage at one location, may leave another virtually untouched; 

 e.g., profile line 11 after the 15 March 1975 storm. Recovery time 

 varied directly with severity of storm; the most destructive storms 

 resulted in a longer time of recovery. Beaches in the Virginia Beach 

 area required the most time for storm recovery and is possibly due to 

 the presence of the bulkhead behind the beach. Much of the recovery 

 in the Virginia Beach area is due to sand nourishment, which is 

 increased following storms. 



3. Erosion-Accretion Trends Encompassing Historical Profile Data . 



A great deal of work has been done in the study area previous to 

 the VIMS-CERC study by a variety of investigators (Table 1) . Net 

 volume changes were computed directly from these original survey data 

 (discussed in Sec. Ill, 5), and then were plotted with the VIMS-CERC 



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