sinking sand

This set of images made available Friday, Sept. 2, 2005 by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the same area of the Chandeleur Islands, approximately 100 kilometers east of New Orleans, La. The top image, taken in July 2001, shows narrow sandy beaches and adjacent overwash sandflats, low vegetated dunes, and backbarrier marshes broken by ponds and channels. The bottom image shows the same location on August 31, 2005, two days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Louisiana and Mississippi coastline. Storm surge and large waves from Hurricane Katrina submerged the islands, stripped sand from the beaches, and eroded large sections of the marsh. Today, few recognizable landforms are left on the Chandeleur Island chain. (AP Photo/USGS)