the study area is 0.27 nun and does not vary from north to south. 



Historic Inlets 



11. Inlets have played and continue to play an important role in shore- 

 line evolution in the study area. At present only two inlets, Rudee and 

 Oregon, are open; in the past as many as seven have been open simultaneously. 

 The inlets act as traps for littoral sediments which move into the lagoons 

 from adjacent ocean beaches and in this way contribute to ocean shoreline re- 

 treat. The sound shoreline is often moved toward the mainland by sand accre- 

 tion in flood-tidal deposits behind the islands and adjacent to open inlets 

 (Figure 8) . Closed inlet locations are frequently distinguishable by a bulge 

 in the sound shoreline. 



Inlet location 



12. Figure 9 shows the extent of inlets reported open since 1585 on 



Figure 8. View north across Oregon Inlet (most of the 

 large shoreline lobes and islands in Pamlico Sound at 

 the left are relic flood-tidal shoals and other inlet 

 features created as Oregon Inlet migrated south; the 

 sound shoreline, therefore, moved west as the inlet 

 trapped beach sand) 



16 



