Publications
Explore scientific publications from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center.
Filter Total Items: 912
Pleistocene carbonate stratigraphy of South Florida: Evidence for high-frequency sea-level cyclicity
Pleistocene carbonates of south Florida and islands of the Florida Keys are currently divided into five marine sequences designated, from oldest to youngest, the Q1–Q5 units. The units include a mosaic of freshwater and shallow marine deposits that accumulated on the Florida platform during high sea-level stands. The units are separated by regional-scale subaerial-exposure surfaces that formed dur
Authors
Todd D. Hickey, Albert C. Hine, Eugene A. Shinn, Sarah E. Kruse, Richard Z. Poore
Geomorphology and depositional subenvironments of Gulf Islands National Seashore, Perdido Key and Santa Rosa Island, Florida
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is studying coastal hazards and coastal change to improve our understanding of coastal ecosystems and to develop better capabilities of predicting future coastal change. One approach to understanding the dynamics of coastal systems is to monitor changes in barrier-island subenvironments through time. This involves examining morphologic and topographic change at te
Authors
Robert A. Morton, Marilyn C. Montgomery
Two-dimensional time dependent hurricane overwash and erosion modeling at Santa Rosa Island
A 2DH numerical, model which is capable of computing nearshore circulation and morphodynamics, including dune erosion, breaching and overwash, is used to simulate overwash caused by Hurricane Ivan (2004) on a barrier island. The model is forced using parametric wave and surge time series based on field data and large-scale numerical model results. The model predicted beach face and dune erosion re
Authors
R.T. McCall, J. S. M. Van Theil de Vries, N.G. Plant, A. R. Van Dongeren, J.A. Roelvink, D.M. Thompson, A.J.H.M. Reniers
Words matter: Recommendations for clarifying coral disease nomenclature and terminology
Coral diseases have caused significant losses on Caribbean reefs and are becoming a greater concern in the Pacific. Progress in coral disease research requires collaboration and communication among experts from many different disciplines. The lack of consistency in the use of terms and names in the recent scientific literature reflects the absence of an authority for naming coral diseases, a lack
Authors
Caroline S. Rogers
Do three massive coral species from the same reef record the same SST signal? A test from the Dry Tortugas, Florida Keys
Paleoclimatologists have reconstructed century-long records of sea surface temperature (SST) in the Pacific using the Sr/Ca of massive corals, whereas similar reconstructions in the Atlantic have not proceeded at the same pace. Past research in the Florida Keys has focused on Montastrea spp., an abundant and fast-growing massive coral, thus a good candidate for climate reconstructions. However, co
Authors
K. L. DeLong, R. Z. Poore, C. D. Reich, J. A. Flannery, Christopher R. Maupin, T. M. Quinn
Microbial ecology of corals, sponges, and algae in mesophotic coral environments
Mesophotic coral ecosystems that occur at depths from 30 to 200 m have historically been understudied and yet appear to support a diverse biological community. The microbiology of these systems is particularly poorly understood, especially with regard to the communities associated with corals, sponges, and algae. This lack of information is partly due to the problems associated with gaining access
Authors
Julie B. Olson, Christina A. Kellogg
Biological community structure on patch reefs in Biscayne National Park, FL, USA
Coral reef ecosystem management benefits from continual quantitative assessment of the resources being managed, plus assessment of factors that affect distribution patterns of organisms in the ecosystem. In this study, we investigate the relationships among physical, benthic, and fish variables in an effort to help explain the distribution patterns of organisms on patch reefs within Biscayne Natio
Authors
Ilsa B. Kuffner, Rikki Grober-Dunsmore, John Brock, T. Don Hickey
Numerical simulation of a low-lying barrier island's morphological response to Hurricane Katrina
Tropical cyclones that enter or form in the Gulf of Mexico generate storm surge and large waves that impact low-lying coastlines along the Gulf Coast. The Chandeleur Islands, located 161. km east of New Orleans, Louisiana, have endured numerous hurricanes that have passed nearby. Hurricane Katrina (landfall near Waveland MS, 29 Aug 2005) caused dramatic changes to the island elevation and shape. I
Authors
C.A. Lindemer, N.G. Plant, Jack A. Puleo, D.M. Thompson, T.V. Wamsley
Enumeration of viruses and prokaryotes in deep-sea sediments and cold seeps of the Gulf of Mexico
Little is known about the distribution and abundance of viruses in deep-sea cold-seep environments. Like hydrothermal vents, seeps support communities of macrofauna that are sustained by chemosynthetic bacteria. Sediments close to these communities are hypothesized to be more microbiologically active and therefore to host higher numbers of viruses than non-seep areas. Push cores were taken at five
Authors
Christina A. Kellogg
Mississippi River delta plain, Louisiana coast, and inner shelf Holocene geologic framework, processes, and resources
Extending nearly 400 km from Sabine Pass on the Texas-Louisiana border east to the Chandeleur Islands, the Louisiana coastal zone (Fig. 11.1) along the north-central Gulf of Mexico is the southern terminus of the largest drainage basin in North America (>3.3 million km2), which includes the Mississippi River delta plain where approximately 6.2 million kilograms per year of sediment is delivered to
Authors
S. Jeffress Williams, Mark Kulp, Shea Penland, Jack L. Kindinger, James G. Flocks
Holocene core logs and site statistics for modern patch-reef cores: Biscayne National Park, Florida
The bedrock in Biscayne National Park (BNP), a 1,730-square kilometer (km2) region off southeast Florida, consists of Pleistocene (1.8 million years ago (Ma) to 10,000 years ago (ka)) and Holocene (10 ka to present) carbonate rocks (Enos and Perkins, 1977; Halley and others, 1997; Multer and others, 2002). Most of the surficial limestone in BNP, including the islands of the Florida Keys, was forme
Authors
Christopher D. Reich, T. Don Hickey, Kristine L. DeLong, Richard Z. Poore, John Brock
The emerging role of lidar remote sensing in coastal research and resource management
Knowledge of coastal elevation is an essential requirement for resource management and scientific research. Recognizing the vast potential of lidar remote sensing in coastal studies, this Special Issue includes a collection of articles intended to represent the state-of-the-art for lidar investigations of nearshore submerged and emergent ecosystems, coastal morphodynamics, and hazards due to sea-l
Authors
John Brock, Samuel J. Purkis