196. If the South Carolina coastline is examined through time specify- 

 ing that any landward movement, no matter how small, is erosion and any sea- 

 ward movement is accretion, then shoreline trends are toward erosion. However, 

 temporal division of data shows no one shoreline segment has eroded signifi- 

 cantly faster than adjacent segments given a sufficient length of time. Ero- 

 sion and accretion appear to dynamically alternate spatially and temporally 

 with the present net effect of shoreline erosion. Specific locations, such as 

 northern Kiawah Island, have been accreting steadily, and other areas have 

 been eroding steadily over the 130 years of survey data; but overall there 

 appears to be a dynamic balance favoring erosion. In the distant future, as 

 sea level rise changes or climatic changes affect storm properties, the 

 dynamic balance may swing toward more erosion or accretion. 



144 



