Shifting sands and anthropogenic modifications along the Presque Isle strandplain on the NW Pennsylvania coast of Lake Erie

This field guide reviews the coastal and engineering geology of Presque Isle State Park, a 9 km² flying sand spit located on the NW Pennsylvania bluff coast of Lake Erie on the North American Great Lakes. Much of the spit’s shoreline is armored with offshore breakwaters, groynes, and riprap, and lakefront beaches have received regular beach nourishment for more than half a century. The guide describes a series of eight field-trip stops along this dynamic and anthropogenically modified depositional landform. The stops progress downdrift along the Lake Erie side of the spit to the North Jetty at its downdrift terminus, returning along its Presque Isle Bay side to where the spit joins the mainland bluffs.