Beach Morning Glory Vines and Dune Erosion, Mile 55, Padre Island National Seashore

Low tide, Padre Island National Seashore, 50 miles south of the end of pavement on the four-wheel drive only beach. It doesn’t take but a few days after the high tides are over and the erosion scars begin to heal. Here, soft sand on the top of the dune is flowing down, piling up on little ledges and creating a sand scree slope at the bottom. The vines hanging down the erosion cut are beach morning glories that traditionally are supposed to prevent erosion, except these vines did not evolve with climate change.