Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations

The northern Outer Banks · By Dirk Frankenberg and Blair Tormey

Buxton overwash

Buxton Overwash

Figure 17. Signs warn drivers of sand blown over the road near the Buxton overwash zone. (Photograph by Blair Tormey. More about the photograph)

The Buxton overwash zone is located where the orientation of the island bends to form Cape Hatteras. The Buxton overwash zone has been the site of rapid shoreline retreat, frequent overwash, and the formation of inlets such as the Cape Inlet, Chacandepeco Inlet, and Buxton Inlet.

The Buxton Inlet was the most recent, formed during the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 and subsequently filled with sand pumped from the flood-tide delta. Though the road was rebuilt following the storm, the shoreline continued to retreat at a rate of ten to twenty feet each year. Following a series of storms in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a half-mile portion of the road was relocated to its present location, an effort coupled with a $4.3-million beach replenishment project. Despite the efforts to stem the retreat of the shoreline, this area will continue to be plagued by overwash and inlet formation.

Definitions

overwash n.
The transport of sediment landward of the active beach by coastal flooding during a tsunami, hurricane, or other event with extreme waves.
inlet n.
A recess, such as a bay or cove, along a coast; a stream or bay leading inland, as from the ocean; an estuary; a narrow passage of water, as between two islands; a drainage passage.
delta n.
An area formed from the deposition of sediments at the mouth of a river that is usually triangular or fan-shaped in appearance.
beach replenishment n.
The addition of new material (sand, sediment, etc) to a beach naturally, or through the action of longshore drift, or artificially through the dumping of large amounts of material.