James Flocks
Science and Products
Coastal Resource Evaluation for Management Application (CREMA)
Coastal environments are dynamic systems that provide high ecological, economical, recreational, and cultural value. Managing coastal systems requires a comprehensive understanding of the complex interactions between geological and ecological processes, as well as the ability to predict both the near-term and long-term impacts of storms and sea-level rise. The Coastal Resource Evaluation for...
Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP)
In 2009, the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Mobile District in conjunction with other Federal and State agencies, to help reduce future storm damage along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Comprehensive Plan for MsCIP includes restoring the Mississippi barrier islands and over 3,000 acres of wetland and coastal forest...
Alabama Barrier Island Restoration Assessment
This project is a collaborative effort between the USGS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the State of Alabama funded by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to investigate viable, sustainable restoration options that protect and restore the natural resources of Dauphin Island, Alabama. The project is focused on restoration options that protect and restore habitat and living...
Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring Program (BICM)
The goal of the State of Louisiana Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) program is to provide long-term data on the barrier islands of Louisiana that could be used to plan, design, evaluate, and maintain current and future barrier-island restoration projects.
Integrating Mapping and Modeling to Support the Restoration of Bird Nesting Habitat at Breton Island National Wildlife Refuge
Breton Island, located at the southern end of the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, is part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) established in 1904 by Theodore Roosevelt. Breton NWR is recognized as a globally important bird habitat because of the resources it provides, and hosts one of Louisiana's largest historical brown pelican nesting colonies. Without actions to restore sand to the...
Mapping Florida's Coastal Waters
The FCMaP approach divides Florida into 6 regions that are geologically and physiographically distinct in terms of coastal characteristic.
The Florida Coastal Mapping Program
The Florida Coastal Mapping Program (FCMaP) is an initiative between Federal and Florida State agencies and institutions to coordinate and facilitate the collection and accessibility of Florida coastal seafloor data in order to fill priority areas and gaps.
Subsidence and Coastal Geomorphic Change in South-Central Louisiana
New methods will investigate coastal subsidence on and around barrier islands before and after restoration.
Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring
Historical and newly acquired data were used to assess and monitor changes in the aerial and subaqueous extent of islands, habitat types, sediment properties, environmental processes, and vegetation composition.
Science Support for the Mississippi Coastal Improvement Project
Since 2007, the USGS (with NPS and USACE) has been mapping the seafloor and substrate around the Mississippi barrier islands to characterize the near-surface stratigraphy and identify the influence it has on island evolution and fate.
Enhancing Coastal Adaptation Planning at Gulf Islands National Seashore
Barrier islands are exposed to a range of natural and human-caused changes, including hurricanes, sea-level rise, and dredging. These changes have the potential to influence the ability of barrier islands to serve as a first-line of defense for the mainland during storm events. Gulf Islands National Seashore, a National Park Service unit in the northern Gulf of Mexico between Florida and...
Geologic and Morphologic Evolution of Coastal Margins
A combination of geophysics, sediment sampling, and chronology techniques are used to characterize the regional geomorphologic response of coastal systems to environmental changes.
Impacts of sediment removal from and placement in coastal barrier island systems
Executive SummaryOn June 24, 2019, Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, sent a letter to the directors of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to request their assistance in answering questions regarding coastal sediment resource management within the Coastal Barrier...
Miselis, Jennifer L.; Flocks, James G.; Zeigler, Sara; Passeri, Davina; Smith, David R.; Bourque, Jill; Sherwood, Christopher R.; Smith, Christopher G.; Ciarletta, Daniel J.; Smith, Kathryn; Hart, Kristen; Kazyak, David; Berlin, Alicia; Prohaska, Bianca; Calleson, Teresa; Yanchis, Kristi
Seafloor change around the Mississippi barrier islands, 1920 to 2016—The influence of storm effects on inlet and island morphodynamics
The Mississippi Barrier Islands in the northern Gulf of Mexico experienced high rates of spatial change over recorded history. Wave-induced sediment transport induced island migration, landward retreat, and inlet evolution. These processes can be measured using repeat bathymetric surveys to analyze elevation change over time. This study analyzes...
Flocks, James G.; Buster, Noreen A.; Brenner, Owen T.
Late Quaternary evolution and stratigraphic framework influence on coastal systems along the north-central Gulf of Mexico, USA
Coastal systems in the Gulf of Mexico are threatened by reduced sediment supply, storm impacts and relative sea-level rise (RSLR). The geologic record provides insight into geomorphic evolution thresholds to these forcing mechanisms to help predict future barrier evolution in response to climate change. This study synthesizes ∼2100 km of...
Hollis, Robert S; Wallace, Davin J; Miner, Michael D; Gal, Nina S; Dike, Clayton H; Flocks, James G.
Louisiana Coastal Zone sediment characterization; Comparison of sediment grain sizes for samples collected in 2008 and 2015–2016 from the western Chenier plain to the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana—Louisiana Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) Program
Repeated sampling and grain-size analysis of surficial sediments along the sandy shorelines of Louisiana is necessary to characterize coastal-zone sediment properties and evaluate sediment transport patterns within the nearshore environments. In 2008, and again in 2015 and 2016, sediment grab samples were collected along the shorelines of the...
Bosse, Stephen T.; Flocks, James G.; Bernier, Julie C.; Georgiou, Ioannis Y.; Kulp, Mark A.; Brown, Michael Application of sediment end-member analysis for understanding sediment fluxes, northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana
We analyzed grain-size distributions (GSDs) from a time-series of sediment samples to evaluate sediment transport following anthropogenic sand-berm emplacement at the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. End-member analysis (EMA) was applied to compare the end-member (EM) GSD of a known sediment source to GSDs from surrounding environments and...
Bernier, Julie C.; Miselis, Jennifer L.; Buster, Noreen A.; Flocks, James G.
Nearshore single-beam bathymetry data collected in 2015, Dauphin Island, Alabama
Dauphin Island, Alabama, is a barrier island located in the northern Gulf of Mexico that supports local residences, tourism, commercial infrastructure, and historic Fort Gaines. During the past decade, Dauphin Island was affected by several major hurricanes—Hurricanes Ivan (2004), Katrina (2005), and Isaac (2012)—and storms, along with sea-level...
DeWitt, Nancy T.; Stalk, Chelsea A.; Flocks, James G.; Bernier, Julie C.; Kelso, Kyle W.; Fredericks, Jake J.; Tuten, Thomas M.
Nearshore coastal bathymetry data collected in 2016 from West Ship Island to Horn Island, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, conducted bathymetric surveys of the nearshore waters surrounding Ship and Horn Islands, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi. The objective of this study was to establish base-level...
DeWitt, Nancy T.; Stalk, Chelsea A.; Fredericks, Jake J.; Flocks, James G.; Kelso, Kyle W.; Farmer, Andrew S.; Tuten, Thomas M.; Buster, Noreen A.
Analysis of seafloor change around Dauphin Island, Alabama, 1987–2015
Dauphin Island is a 26-km-long barrier island located southwest of Mobile Bay, Alabama, in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. The island contains sandy beaches, dunes, maritime forests, freshwater ponds and intertidal wetlands, providing habitat for many endangered and threatened species. Dauphin Island also provides protection for and maintains...
Flocks, James G.; DeWitt, Nancy T.; Stalk, Chelsea A. Archive of digitized analog boomer seismic reflection data collected during U.S. Geological Survey cruise Acadiana 87-2 in the northern Gulf of Mexico, June 1987
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog...
Bosse, Stephen T.; Flocks, James G.; Forde, Arnell S. Single-beam bathymetry data collected in 2015 nearshore Dauphin Island, Alabama
Dauphin Island, Alabama is a barrier island located in the Northern Gulf of Mexico that supports local residences, tourism, commercial infrastructure, and the historical Fort Gaines. During the past decade, Dauphin Island has been impacted by several major hurricanes (Ivan, 2004; Katrina, 2005; Isaac, 2012). Storms, along with sea level rise,...
DeWitt, Nancy T.; Stalk, Chelsea A.; Flocks, James G.; Bernier, Julie C.; Kelso, Kyle W.; Fredericks, Jake J.; Tuten, Thomas Archive of digitized analog boomer seismic-reflection data collected during U.S. Geological Survey cruises Erda 90-1_HC, Erda 90-1_PBP, and Erda 91-3 in Mississippi Sound, June 1990 and September 1991
The U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog format as...
Bosse, Stephen T.; Flocks, James G.; Forde, Arnell S.
Digitized analog boomer seismic-reflection data collected during U.S. Geological Survey cruises Erda 90-1_HC, Erda 90-1_PBP, and Erda 91-3 in Mississippi Sound, June 1990 and September 1991
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog...
Bosse, Stephen T.; Flocks, James G.; Forde, Arnell S.
Alabama Barrier Island Restoration Assessment Project virtual public presentation
Scientists from across the southeast region, in collaboration with the USACE, participated in a live public webinar on June 9 to introduce results from the Alabama Barrier Island Restoration Assessment project. The objective of the project is to provide data collections, morphologic modeling, and structured decision-making to explore restoration options to protect and restore natural resources...
The USGS participated in a 2-day virtual workshop focusing on research needs at Gulf Islands National Seashore
The objective of the workshop was to identify research and data needs to support a regional sediment budget, and opportunities for collaboration on studies to address these needs.
USGS Southeast Region Workshop: Documenting the multiple facets of a subsiding landscape from coastal cities and wetlands to the continental shelf
Workshop brings together USGS scientists from a variety of disciplines to identify current strengths and weakness in subsidence-related research.
Big Bend Coastal Mapping Prioritization Workshop in Cedar Key, Florida
The USGS, FWRI, and FIO, as part of the Florida Coastal Mapping Program (FCMaP), are leading a coastal and seafloor mapping prioritization workshop on Sept. 7, 2018, with stakeholders from 20 different Federal, State, County, and academic entities. The group will utilize a new tool developed by NOAA and FWRI to indicate which areas of the seabed, from the shore to the shelf edge, are most...