Glacial melt created Long Island’s barrier-beach south shore and bay

Evidence

The melted ice ran south, flooded a huge low-lying meadow on the south side of the Island and left on the ocean side of the meadow just enough low sand bars and dunes to form a barrier beach that checked the force of the Atlantic rollers before they smashed on the Island and then let them continue as gentle waves that washed the Island’s shore. The ocean deposited on it gleaming white sand that gave it long horseshoes of beaches, while between the sand bars and the Island, on top of the meadow, a long, narrow, beautiful bay was created. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 640

Categorization

• XREF: The distinction between the rugged north shore and the barrier-beach south shore becomes load-bearing for Caro’s story of which part Robert Moses would transform. — connects to: Long Island’s whale-like geography shapes its development arc — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 639; Long Island’s barrier beach is geologically unstable, constantly reshaped by currents and storms — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 713; Legible disturbance layers from fire and glacier shape today’s shoreline — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 624

Broader Connections

• Legible disturbance layers from fire and glacier shape today’s shoreline #responds-to (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 624
• Long Island’s barrier beach is geologically unstable, constantly reshaped by currents and storms #qualifies (0.75) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 713