Shoreline Evolution: York County, Virginia York River, Chesapeake Bay and Poquoson River Shorelines

The purpose of this data report is to document how the shore zone of York (Figure 1) has evolved since 1937. Aerial imagery was taken for most of the Bay region beginning that year,and can be used to assess the geomorphic nature of shore change. Aerial imagery shows how the coast has changed, how beaches, dunes, bars, and spits have grown or decayed, how barriers have breached, how inlets have changed course, and how one shore type has displaced another or has not changed at all. Shore change is a natural process but, quite often, the impacts of man through shore hardening or inlet stabilization come to dominate a given shore reach. The change in shore positions along the rivers and larger creeks in York County will be quantified in this report. The shorelines of very irregular coasts, small creeks around inlets, and other complicated areas, will be shown but not quantified