Erosion of Misener's Farm

Objective:

To compare aerial photographs and maps of Harris Misener's farm to observe changes in the coastline over historical time. Post-Glacial Change Exercise 7 - Erosion of Misener's Farm. Figure 38 is a set of aerial photographs dating back to 1945. The photos have been reduced to the same scale so that you can make a tracing of each and compare them by superimposing one over the other. Using the interpretations you made in post-glacial change Exercise 6, try and answer the following questions:

Where is Harris Misener's farm?
What kind of feature did this island most resemble, based on your interpretation in post-glacial change Exercise 6?
Roughly, how many years did it take for the island to disappear?
Calculate the width (in the north-south direction) of the island in 1945, based on the scale bar shown.
Divide the width of the island in 1945 by the number of years it took to erode. This gives the rate of erosional retreat in metres per year.
What happened over the same period to the barrier beach between Story Head and the island?
Were the barrier islands north of Story Head always barrier islands? When did they become detached from Story Head?
Using a piece of string, measure the length of the barrier beach between Story Head and Misener's Island for each aerial photograph. Does the length change?
Where does the sand and gravel that forms the barrier beach and barrier islands comes from? How did the barrier beach get longer between 1945 and 1982?

Figure 38. (A, B, C, D) Aerial photographs dating back to 1945 of the area around Miseners farm.

Expected Answers from the students.

Last Modified: 2004-12-10