The book communicates coastal geology such that the reader gets a better understanding of how scientists work and how scientific knowledge is acquired and how it progresses. It presents the human side of geologic research, including missteps, in this case, research on coastal change of the recent past, the present, and the near future. The audience for this volume is the general public, coastal managers, politicians, and decision makers in general, in the coastal realm. But the implications of this work with regard to future climate change and human responses are relevant globally.

A Cautionary Scientific Tale and an Introduction to This Book (Stephen J. Culver)....Pages 1-14 Buried Secrets of the North Carolina Coast, USA (David J. Mallinson)....Pages 15-31 Time and Tide Wait for No Man (Andrew C. Kemp, Benjamin P. Horton)....Pages 33-53 Barrier Island Breakdown: The Ephemeral Outer Banks of North Carolina (Stephen J. Culver)....Pages 55-68 A Different Kind of Sea-Level Story from Malaysia (Peter R. Parham)....Pages 69-91 What Lies Beneath? Revealing Coastal Processes Through Mapping (J. P. Walsh)....Pages 93-108 The Anthropocene, Wait, What? A Basque’s Coastal Experience Helps to Figure It Out (Eduardo Leorri)....Pages 109-121 A Tale of Two Hydrogeology Problems in Coastal North Carolina (Alex K. Manda)....Pages 123-135 Drilling the North Carolina Coastal Plain – Discovering What Lies Beneath (Kathleen M. Farrell)....Pages 137-150 Earthquake-Driven Coastal Change: Ghost Forests, Graveyards and “Komodo Dragons” (Andrea D. Hawkes)....Pages 151-167 A Scientist’s Personal 70-Year Discourse with Past, Present and Future Coastal Change (Stanley R. Riggs)....Pages 169-188 Climate, Sea Level, and People – Changing South Florida’s Mangrove Coast (G. Lynn Wingard)....Pages 189-211 Pictures from Space and Feet in the Mud: Understanding the Value of the World’s Changing Mangrove Forests (David Lagomasino)....Pages 213-231 What Is Happening to the World’s Coral Reefs? (Pamela Hallock)....Pages 233-252 The Water, the Coast, the Future (Joy Moses-Hall)....Pages 253-257 Afterword: The Power of the Ocean (Stephen J. Culver)....Pages 259-267.