RAPID - Impacts of Hurricane Florence on Coastal and Inner Shelf Environments: Onslow Bay, North Carolina

Hurricane Florence impacted the coastal region of North Carolina between Cape Fear and Cape Hatteras with sustained winds of 50 to 90 mph and gusts exceeding 100 mph, significant wave heights of 8 m, and peak periods of 15 to 17 s. Storm surge in central Onslow Bay was forecast to be ca. 3 to 4 m, and was sustained over six tidal cycles. With an average inner continental shelf depth of ca. 15 m in Onslow Bay, these waves were shallow water waves with tremendous energy and greatly influenced erosion, sediment transport, and deposition on the inner continental shelf, the shoreface and barrier island and inlet environments. These impacts were manifested in areas where we have recently collected substantial geological and geophysical data which can serve as a baseline for comparison of the hurricane impacts. This research will reoccupy and resample sites in this coastal region where abundant pre-storm data exist, to assess the impact of the storm on: 1) erosion and sedimentation throughout the region; 2) changes to the distribution of beach nourishment sand resources on the inner continental shelf; 3) changes to foraminiferal assemblages and sedimentology in major environments and subenvironments; 4) the potential for retaining and identifying this storm signal in the stratigraphic record.

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