Masonboro Banks - North Carolina

Tidal Range

Tides are semi-diurnal and usually fluctuate approximately 3.8 feet (1.2 meters), while spring tides average 4.5 feet (1.4 meters).

River Flow

Masonboro Sound and Myrtle Grove Sound receive no direct input from a freshwater river.

Soil Types

Three series have been mapped on Masonboro Island: Carteret, Duckston and Newhan. The Carteret series underlies the tidal marshes. The poorly drained sands of the Duckston series are found within the shrub thicket and maritime forest communities. Dune and grassland areas along the side of the island are underlain by excessively to somewhat excessively well-drained soils of the Newhan series.

Geology

The Masonboro component consists of recent and pleistocene sediments that are part of the Pamlico Terrace on the eastern edge of the North Carolina coastal plain. Masonboro Island is the present-day counterpart of a barrier island complex formed some distance offshore, the time being rather speculative. However, the genesis of the original island is thought to have occurred by mainland beach detachment, occurring sometime in the last 5,000 years, when the Holocene sea rise slowed down.

Masonboro Banks

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