Geologist to share research on Plum Island

BY HEATHER A LTERISIO halterisio@newburyportnews.com

NEWBURYPORT — Erosion on Plum Island is the topic of coastal geologist Christopher Hein’s talk Friday at the Senior Community Center. “Plum Island Erosion: Is it the Jetty?” will focus on Plum Island’s formation and the possible connections between the installation of the jetties and today’s erosion on Reservation Terrace. Hein, assistant professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, in Gloucester Point, Virginia, will compare Plum Island to other islands around the world.

Hein has been studying Plum Island since 2005. Between 2013 and 2017, Hein led a team of scientists from across the East Coast in a study of Plum Island’s formation, growth and erosion. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

The team published its research, “Shoreline Dynamics along a Developed River Mouth Barrier Island: Multi-Decadal Cycles

See RESEARCH, Page 7

Christopher Hein

. Continued from Page 1 of Erosion and Event-Driven Mitigation,” in May, linking human intervention to the disruption of the island’s natural sediment.

In his and the team’s research, Hein said, “One thing we realized is that this island is very stable. It really hasn’t moved in about 3,000 years — maybe even longer, maybe 4,000 years.”

Even with erosion and losing sand around the northern end, Hein said the size of the sand dunes show its stability.

As a professor in Virginia, Hein often compares Plum Island to the state’s barrier islands, where he said the islands have moved an average of 15 feet per year for the last 150 years.

In contrast to Virginia and similar barrier islands, Plum Island is different because of the Merrimack River, Hein said.

With the river’s constant movement, Hein said it is constantly feeding sand to the island.

“So, as fast as one spot is eroding, somewhere else is building up,” he said.

Plum Island is not the only one of its kind, but his research shows “how different it is from so many other barrier islands throughout the world,” Hein said.

Local environmental group Storm Surge is sponsoring Hein’s presentation Friday.

Doors open at 331 High St. at 6:30 p.m. with the talk starting at 7.

For more information about Storm Surge-sponsored events, email stormsurge9@ gmail.com.

Hein and his colleagues’ research paper can be read at www.frontiersin. org/articles/10.3389/ feart.2019.00103/full.