Atlantic Coastal Plain

The Atlantic Coastal Plain is a low-lying region along the eastern United States, stretching from New Jersey south through Florida. It consists largely of gently sloping, unconsolidated sediments deposited over older rock.

Coastal plain: A broad, low-relief region formed mainly from sediments deposited along a coastline. The Atlantic Coastal Plain is the eastern United States example of this landform.
Marine transgression: The landward movement of a shoreline as relative sea level rises. Rising seas submerged parts of the plain and left marine deposits inland.
Piedmont: A plateau region between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Coastal Plain in the eastern United States. The Fall Line marks the abrupt transition from Piedmont bedrock to coastal-plain sediments.
Atlantic hurricane: A tropical cyclone that forms in the Atlantic basin and reaches hurricane strength. Storm surges and heavy rainfall make hurricanes a recurring hazard across the low plain.
Continental shelf: The shallow, submerged edge of a continent extending from the shoreline to a steeper continental slope. Its sediments and submerged continuation connect the plain to the Atlantic seafloor.
Marine regression: The seaward movement of a shoreline as relative sea level falls or sediment builds outward. Retreating seas exposed parts of the plain and shifted depositional environments oceanward.
Fall Line: A boundary where streams descend from resistant uplands onto a lower, softer coastal plain. Rapids and waterfalls along this boundary historically marked the plain’s inland edge.
Storm surge: An abnormal rise in coastal water level driven mainly by a storm’s winds and pressure. Low elevations allow surge waters to travel far inland across coastal-plain communities.
Sediment: Loose mineral or organic particles transported and deposited by water, wind, ice, or gravity. Much of the plain consists of layers of sediment rather than exposed bedrock.
Barrier island: A long, narrow coastal island separated from the mainland by a lagoon or sound. Barrier islands are characteristic landforms along many stretches of this coast.

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