STAN RKUGS: 

 Geologist Paints 

 Vivid Picture of 

 North Carolina's 

 Dynamic Shorelines 



BY ANN GREEN 



wnish-green water from Roanoke 

 Sound in Nags Head hits the heavily rip-rapped 

 shoreline as North Carolina Sea Grant researcher 

 Stan Riggs stands on a large concrete slab. 



With the help of a large megaphone, Riggs' 

 voice booms across the estuarine shoreline while he 

 points to a house perched on stilts in me sound. 



'You see the house out in the sound," says 

 Riggs to N.C. Coastal Geology Research Coopera- 

 tive field trip participants. "Even though there is rip 

 rap on the shore, it is still eroding here as indicated 

 by the difference between the 1997 and 2003 

 photographs." 



"From 1 932 to 73, the erosion rate was more 

 than five feet a year," adds Riggs, an East Carolina 

 University distinguished research professor. "Since 

 then, the shoreline has been armored with broken 

 concrete slabs, but the rip rap is at best a temporary 

 fix and not a permanent solution." 



HIGH SEASON 2004 



