Barrier Island Case Study

Summary of Barrier island stratigraphy and Holocene history of west-central Florida In Davis et. Al (2003), researchers studied the Holocene Barrier island and inner continental shelf located in west-central Florida. The study itself took place in the northern Florida Gulf peninsula barrier inlet, extending from Anclote Key to Cape Romano. The purpose of this research project was to analyze the characteristics and nature of the barriers, as well as to understand where the barriers were formed and the process(s) of that formation. It was conducted in order learn how to better manage the barriers in response to growing development in coastal areas. In response to previous research, it was hypothesized that some barrier islands originally formed offshore and were relocated to their present locations through wash over. The study was conducted by examining stratigraphic sections for nine barrier island transects as well as stratigraphic data from previous studies. Over 200 vibracores were examined for the study total. Four to six cores were collected from the nine transects. After the cores were taken, the scientists then examined the weight, grain size, carbonate content, and organic matter content of each sample. Along with this,

The barriers were formed during periods of slow sea-level rise. The findings of this study serve as important information for examining human impact and potential management of barrier islands. This study showed that the creation and reshaping of the barriers are weather depending. Human development along coastlines including hotels and jetties, influence the natural processes that affect the barriers. This leads to server erosion, which in turn causes that damage from storms to be more harmful along the coast. This in turn negatively affects many city econmoies that are based around torism. The study of the west-central Florida