06025 THE INLET

     Unless some historical sources exist, one never knows whether an inlet nearby is old or young.  A new inlet perhaps opened on a stormy day and has continued for 200 years or so.  The truly old ones perhaps cut through the coastline 4,000 to 18,000 years ago when the barrier islands were formed after the last ice age.  Old established inlets build ebb tide features, like prominent sandbars rolled up offshore.  Newer inlets are subject to shoaling inshore, caused by flood tides rolling sand in.  Popular lore nominates an inlet as old when fossils pop up in the area, but, then the erosion from a powerful storm may also reveal fossils at a new inlet.  Georgia and South Carolina are technically named as “mesotidal” indicating large tidal ranges. These higher tides maintain the older channels by pouring in and out large amounts of water.  In “microtidal” waters with smaller tide ranges, like North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the slower currents and wave action push sandy deposits easily inshore eventually allowing the fresh inlet to close completely.  Of course, hurricanes and severe nor’easters may create new inlets on any barrier island.  The Inlet is 18” x 48” , is it old or new?