PART II: STUDY AREA 

 Geographical Setting 



7. The study area encompasses approximately 336 km of open Atlantic 

 coastline from the northern end of Tybee Island, Georgia, north along the 

 South Carolina coast to Cape Fear, North Carolina (Figure 1). The southern 

 portion of this reach is composed of numerous barrier islands averaging 7 km 

 in length, separated by frequent tidal inlets. Many of these inlets are 

 large, representing the point of debouchere for major coastal plain rivers. 

 From south to north, these include Tybee Roads/Calibogue Sound, Port Royal 

 Sound, St. Helena Sound, Charleston Harbor, Bull Bay, and Winyah Bay. Tybee, 

 Hilton Head, Pritchards , Hunting, Edisto, Seabrook, Kiawah, Folly, Morris, 

 Sullivans, Isle of Palms, Dewees, Capers, Bull, and Cape Island are the major 

 barrier islands within this section from south to north. This segment of the 

 coastal plain, often referred to as the "Carolina low country" because of its 

 low relief, is also characterized by wide salt marshes, dissected by 

 meandering tidal creeks, between the barrier islands and mainland. Fresh- 

 water swamps are abundant throughout the region. The general orientation of 

 the coastline in the southern section is northeast to southwest. 



8. Cape Island, which includes the prominent Cape Romain, lies roughly 

 in the middle of the study area (Figure 1) . At Cape Romain, the shoreline 

 reorients to north-northeast. North of Cape Island, the shoreline changes 

 under influence of the Santee, Waccamaw, Pee Dee, Sampit, and Black Rivers. 

 The Santee had the fourth largest discharge of any river on the east coast 

 (Kjerfve 1976). Small barrier islands, backed by wide expanses of salt marsh, 

 dominate this deltaic coastline. 



9. North of this region, bordering Long Bay, begins a coastal reach 

 characterized by relatively few and small inlets, little coastal marsh, main- 

 land beaches, and limited barrier islands, referred to as the "arcuate 

 strand" (Brown 1977) . This arcuate segment of coastline extending from Winyah 

 Bay to Cape Fear, North Carolina, is generally less than 8 m above mean sea 

 level (MSL) and has an orientation of north-northeast to south- southwest in 

 the south, reorienting to approximately east-west at Cape Fear. North, 

 Murrells , and Little River are the major South Carolina inlets within this 

 reach. Debidue, Pawleys Island, Litchfield, Huntington, Garden City, 



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