Figure 3. Impact of Sea Level Rise on Wetlands Around Charleston, South Carolina, as reported by Kanea et al. (1988) . The figure shows the shift in wetland zonation along a shoreline profile, assuming an accretion of 5 mm/yr. Vegetated wetlands would be squeezed; but tidal flats would increase. For a larger rise in sea level, even flats would be squeezed. Note that this assumes no reordering of sediment, which would not be realistic in all circumstances. .