and 1972 to 1976 were 55, 74, 60, 54, 82, 58, and 78 percent, respec- 

 tively. The spring was the most accretional period, with an average of 

 76 percent of the springtime being accretional. The fall erosional 

 trend is very consistent from Cape Henry to the Virginia-North Carolina 

 State line, but the time of accretion varies between profile locations. 



5. Currituck County Beach Changes . 



Eight trips to the Currituck County ocean front (February 1975 

 to September 1976) revealed low-gradient, broad beaches for the first 

 30 kilometers south of the Virginia-North Carolina State line (Figs. 15 

 and 16). (The VIMS-CERC Currituck County reconnaissance stations, at 

 intervals of 6.4 kilometers starting at the Virginia-North Carolina 

 State line, are indicated on Figure 15.) The next 8 to 9 kilometers 

 of beach encompasses the southern part of Currituck County (the 

 area of the now closed Caffey Inlet in upper Dare County) and beaches 

 just north of the CERC Field Research Facility. This section is 

 represented by narrow, steep beaches with dune scarps, and copious 

 amounts of coarse sand, locally known as "treacherous red sands" 

 because of the difficulty of driving. However, these sands were 

 beginning to show farther north in 1976. 



Over the 19 months that data were taken in quarterly reconnais- 

 ance trips to this area, little change was observed in the beach 

 widths. The steepness of beach- face slopes decreased slightly 

 (Fig. 16) and beach- face sand grain size remained about the same 

 (Fig. 17). Figure 18 compares the beach- face slope angle to the 

 beach-face sand grain size. 



Field observations indicate that the measured high-angle beach 

 faces represent convex-upward accretional berm conditions, and 

 the low-angle beach- face slope angles represent concave erosional 

 beach profile lines. The lowest-angle beaches (i.e., erosional) 

 were measured in April 1976, February 1975, July 1976, and January 

 1976, and the steepest beaches (i.e., accretional) were measured 

 in May 1975, August 1975, September 1976, and November 1975. 

 These data are thus suggestive of seasonality with erosional beaches 

 in winter and early spring (with one exception in July 1976) and 

 accretional beaches in late spring, summer, and fall. 



Richardson (1977) has summarized beach erosion occurrences 

 between 1 November and 30 April for the U.S. east coast (Maine to 

 Virginia) from the U.S. Weather Service records. This tabulation 

 (Table 4) indicates a fall storm period (November and December) 

 and a late winter-early spring storm period (March and April) , with 

 a lull in January. Thus, these Currituck County beach slope data 



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