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The answers to the questions may be found at the
listed coords on a descriptive sign located at the Ocean City
Inlet. There is Municipal Parking at the Inlet (for a fee), or you
may park elsewhere and walk to the Inlet on the
Boardwalk.
Prior to 1933, Fenwick Island (where you are standing) and
Assateague Island (visible across the Inlet) were part of the same
continuous barrier spit located off the coast of Delaware, Maryland
and Virginia. On August 23, 1933 a major hurricane came through the
area, breaching the barrier spit at the Ocean City Inlet, and
dividing the previously continuous peninsula into Fenwick Island to
the north, and Assateague Island to the south.
The storm of 1933 changed the face and life-style of Ocean City.
The railroad bridge from the mainland was destroyed and never
rebuilt.Commercial fishing camps on the island to the south of town
were been destroyed, and only a few tried to rebuild. A new era was
about to begin.
Sport fishing, the hunt for big game fish, was all made possible by
this magnificent storm that cut a new, deep-water inlet. This in
turn would soon, with in several years, earn Ocean City the title
of the White Marlin Capital of the World.
Jetty construction began on each side of the newly formed inlet in
September of 1933, designed to create and maintain a navigable
waterway between coastal lagoon and ocean.
The northern 10 kilometers of Assateague Island National Seashore
(referred to as the North End of Assateague Island), terminated to
the north by the Ocean City Inlet, is an extremely unique
environment. It is prime habitat for state-and federally-listed
endangered species, and protects the mainland directly to the west
from storm events, and wave and tidal energy. The fragile nature of
the North End environment is thought to be primarily caused by an
interruption in longshore sediment transport by the jetties built
around the Ocean City Inlet in 1933.
Since the jetties were built, unnatural erosion and accelerated
shoreline migration has been occurring on northern Assateague
Island. Between the time of the 1933 hurricane and present, the
ocean shoreline in this area has shifted westward more than 350
meters, resulting in whole scale geomorphologic, habitat, and
biotic changes that would not have occurred under natural
circumstances.
Created from original aerial photography by Jane Thomas
The water current along the Atlantic coast continuously moves sand
from up the coast and from the seafloor in a southern direction
along the undisturbed shoreline, maintaining the barrier islands.
This natural process has been disrupted by the jetties at Ocean
City, leading to reduced migration of sediment to Assateague
Island. This reduction, combined with natural overwash, is causing
Assateague Island to move west towards the mainland.
To learn more, you may wish to visit EarthCaches “Assateague
Island On The Move” (GCZNVY) and “Chincoteague Bay
EarthCache” (GC1BPNK).
TO CLAIM A FIND YOU MUST:
Send us an email with answers to the following questions:
a) Certain old objects may appear on the beach after
storms. What are they?
b) Name the natural process which causes barrier
islands to move.
c) Which direction is their movement?.
d) From 1935 until recently, the North End moved how
many feet per year?
OPTIONAL BUT NOT REQUIRED: We’d enjoy seeing a
picture of you with your GPS (or just your GPS) and the
interpretive sign, but please be sure that your picture does not
reveal the wording on the sign!
SPOILER LOGS OR PICTURES WILL BE DELETED!
For more information:
http://www.nps.gov/asis/naturescience/upload/ProjectIntroduction.pdf
http://www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/wetlandswaterways/CB_AA.pdf
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/coastalbays/publications/Chapter8.4.pdf
http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/gre_publications.cfm
“Assateague NS”
http://www.beloit.edu/~SEPM/Geology_and_the_enviro/Fenwick_Island.html
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/winter2003/assateague.html
http://www.ocmuseum.org/index.php/site/oc-history_article/stormy_weather/