Geography of the Atlantic Coast Barrier Islands: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,

and Connecticut

Ethan Estey, Gina Panasik, Doug Piatkowski, and Brannon Quel

Maine

Coastline Length: 228 miles

Shoreline Length: 5200 miles

Coastal Pop: 885,703

% of Area in CZ: 12%

% Barrier Island: 0%

% Barrier Spit: 0%

Bay of Fundy

Penobscot Bay

Casco Bay

Cliffs and Rocky Shorelines are common features of Maine

Maine has over 4600 islands off its coast, but non are barrier islands.

Headland and Pocket Beach near Portland

Wells Beach National Estuarine Research Reserve

1600 acres that includes tidal rivers, salt marshes, and forested wetlands.

Home to endangered species such as the piping plover and least tern.

Maine Tides

Eastport: High (21.0 ft) Low (-1.9 ft)

Coastline Length: 13 miles

Shoreline Length: 131 miles

Coastal Pop: 350,078

% of Area in CZ: 1%

% Barrier Island: 0%

% Barrier Spit: 0 %

New Hampshire

Piscataqua River

Great Bay NERR

Wallis Beach

New Hampshire has components of a rocky shoreline but sandy beaches now appear.

A drowned river valley estuary composed of tidal waters and mudflats.

Includes 1,375 acres of traditional New England salt marshes and over 4000 acres of wildlife preserve.

Home to bald eagles, ospreys and loons.

Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

New Hampshire Tides

Dover Point: High (7.5 ft) Low (-0.7 ft)

Coastline Length: 195 miles

Shoreline Length: 1519 miles

Coastal Pop: 4,494,398

% of Area in CZ: 13%

% Barrier Island: 4%

% Barrier Spit: 11%

Massachusetts

Parker River

Cape Cod

Coastline of Gloucester (rocky intertidal).

Majority of Massachusetts coastline is rocky

Woods Hole, Mass.

Massachusetts is characterized by heavy wave action forming numerous headlands and pocket beaches

Stellwagen Bank, National Marine Sanctuary

Whale sanctuary found north of Cape Cod

Major issue is common ground between protection of natural resources and commercial use.

Highly developed coastal area makes pollution a major threat.

Sanctuary is found in major shipping lanes to Boston.

Massachusetts Tides

Gloucester: High (10.1 ft) Low (-0.8 ft)

Coastline Length: 40 miles

Shoreline Length: 420 miles

Coastal Pop: 685,478

% of Area in CZ: 48%

% Barrier Island: 0%

% Barrier Spit: 50%

Rhode Island

Narragansett Bay

Rhode Island Sound

Mt. Hope Bay

Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

4950 acres of tidal flats, salt marshes, eelgrass meadows, and freshwater wetlands and ponds.

Home to whitetail deer, winter flounder, striped bass, great blue heron, and piping plover.

Rocky coastline with pockets of sandy beaches.

Beach erosion, pollution from runoff and human uses are coastal management issues

Rhode Island Tides

Providence: High (5.2 ft) Low (-0.6 ft)

Coastline Length: 104 miles

Shoreline Length: 618 miles

Coastal Pop: 2,030,017

% of Area in CZ: 19%

% Barrier Island: 2%

% Barrier Spit: 1%

Connecticut

Fishers Island Sound

Connecticut River

New Haven Coastline:

Rocky coastline that is common in theNortheastern United States

Connecticut Tides

Bridgeport: High (7.4 ft) Low (-0.6 ft)

References

NOAAHttp://ww.website.noaa.gov/guides/sciences/ocean/tides.html

University of Texas Map Collection Indexhttp://www.lib.utexas.edu/libs/PCL/map_collection/united_states/

States and Capitalshttp://www.50states.com

WWW Tide and Current Predictorhttp://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/sitesel.html

Area and shoreline length statistics for states w/ federally approved Coastal Management Programshttp://noaa.gov/bulletins/html/cm_13/appendices.html

Geology of Barrier Islands (Dune Construction)http://ecotourism.about.com/travel/ecotourism/library/ecology/blbarrier.htm

Tides Onlinehttp://tidesonline.nos.noaa.gov/geographic.html

State coastal managementhttp://www.ocrm.nos.noaa.gov/czm/czm.html

Geological surveyhttp://www.geo.duke.edu/research/psds/psds_eastref.htm

Other References:

Rand McNally Road Atlas 2000

USGS Topographical and Bathymetric Map