3. Characteristics of the North Carolina Coast . 



The North Carolina coast is about 530 kilometers (330 miles) long, 

 lying between about 33.5° and 36.5° N. latitude. The outer coast is made 

 up of a chain of low, sandy, barrier islands. These are separated from 

 the mainland by large bodies of water along the northern half of the coast 

 from Cape Lookout to the Virginia line -- Core, Pamlico, Albemarle and 

 Currituck Sounds. These sounds are generally shallow with sandy bottoms. 

 South of Cape Lookout, the sounds narrow as in Bogue Sound or disappear 

 altogether leaving only tidal creeks and marshes between the islands and 

 the mainland as from Southport southward. 



The state is drained by four principal rivers that reach the sea 

 directly or indirectly within North Carolina. These are the Roanoke, 

 Pamlico, Neuse, and Cape Fear Rivers. Only the latter empties directly 

 into the Atlantic Ocean; the other three enter the sounds at distances of 

 50 to over 100 kilometers from the nearest inlet. The inlets, really 

 "outlets," between the barrier islands are shallow, narrow and unstable. 



Tide range along the outer coast is lowest (mean about 1.1 meters) 

 near the Virginia-North Carolina border and increases to about 1.4 meters 

 near the North Carolina-South Carolina border. Due to the low water 

 exchange capacity of the inlets and the damping action of the sounds, astro- 

 nomical tide effects within the sounds are confined to the close proximity 

 of the inlets north of Cape Lookout. However, the long fetches and shallow- 

 ness of these bodies of water permit large wind setup effects. South of 

 Cape Lookout damping action is greatly reduced, and astronomical tides 

 dominate. 



Salt and brackish marshes are distributed throughout the coastal zone 

 of North Carolina. These marshes can be divided roughly into low or 

 regularly flooded, and high or irregularly flooded marshes. There are 

 about 24,000 hectares of the low marshes, primarily S. altevni flora , and 

 41,000 hectares of the high marshes dominated largely by Junous romerianus 

 Scheele (black needlerush) . 



The amount of silt and clay brought into the lower reaches of the 

 estuaries is low except for the Cape Fear River. Consequently, most sub- 

 strate materials near the inlets are sandy and during this study there has 

 been little opportunity to work with any other materials, except for one 

 location, The Straits. 



II. PROCEDURE 



Primary emphasis was placed on field experimentation with support as 

 necessary from laboratory, phytotron (growth chambers), greenhouse, or 

 nursery experiments. Field techniques developed as the work progressed 

 and tended to be a blend and adaptation of agronomic and botanical 

 approaches. Where feasible, variables were tested in replicated trials. 

 Exploratory trials and field-scale plantings generally have been unrepli- 

 cated, but did extend whenever possible to two or more experimental 



14 



