Florida has more than 1260 miles of coastline-more than any other state in the continental United States. This coastline includes world famous beaches as well as 25 percent of the country’s environmentally sensitive wetlands, all of which represents a major economic draw for the state’s tourist industry attracting 35.31 billion dollars in 1999 . Annually, hurricanes and strong winter storms cause substantial erosion to Florida’s coastline resulting in follow up beach restoration efforts. To address these concerns, the Florida Geological Survey (FGS) established the Coastal Research Program (CRP) in 1991 to locate new offshore beach sand sources, evaluate the response of coastal wetlands to sea level changes as well as locate and evaluate offshore springs as a potential source of potable water. The CRP is partially funded through cooperative agreements with various federal agencies including the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the United States Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service (MMS), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Resources

The Florida Geological Survey is located in the Gunter Building on the campus of Florida State University (FSU). The FGS has 42 staff members including multi- disciplined professional geologists. Research facilities at the FGS include a geological research library, a sample repository, and laboratories. The library contains an extensive collection of state and federal publications, periodicals, and references. The repository holds cores and well cutting samples from more than 17,000 wells (both onshore and offshore). Click here to view map showing locations where cores have been collected.

Laboratory facilities include:

• a permeability lab equipped with 20 falling-head permeameters,
• a sedimentology lab containing diamond rock-saws for core processing,
• Meinzer II sieve shakers
• ro-taps,
• ovens for drying samples,
• balances and sample preparation equipment for clay mineralogy, organic/carbonate content and micro/nannofossil studies.
• an alpha spectrometer to permit Pb-210 dating of recent sediments and isotopic dating of recent carbonate sediments including cave speleothems and coral reefs, and;
• an X-Ray Diffractometer to identify clays.

The FGS also has cooperative agreements with FSU's Geology Department to use laboratories and analytical equipment. Additionally, the FGS maintains an offshore seismic data acquisition and processing capability through both cooperative research agreements with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal Research Division in St. Petersburg, Florida and data processing programs licensed from various vendors.

The FGS fleet of research vessels includes:

• the 50’ RV GeoQuest,


• the 40’ RV GeoSearch,


• the 22’ RV GeoProbe


• a 24’ shallow draft Carolina skiff and various other small craft. The two larger RV’s are capable of extended offshore investigations.

The FGS inventory of coastal field equipment includes the following portable and vessel deployed instruments and equipment:

• A Marine Sonics Side Scan Sonar sytem operating in either 600 or 1200 kHz
• An Acoustic Doppler Profiler for measuring offshore spring flow.
• A Geopulse 2 to 15 kHz variable frequency subsurface acoustic profiling system.
• A seagoing vibro-core system capable of operating in depths of 100' of water
• A jet probe for determining sediment thickness above bedrock.
• A number of water quality loggers for on-site measurement of salinity, temperature, depth, pH, conductivity, and turbidity.
• A Sediment Elevation Table (SET) for measuring short-term marsh accretion and response to storm events.
• A cryogenic coring device for measuring marsh accretion rates.
• An In-Situ water level indicator for determining depth to water table in ground water monitoring wells.
• FGS computer graphics equipment (for digital graphics input, as well as publication and presentation output).
• A Hypack Vessel Navigation and digital data acquisition system
• A Sonar.Wiz.sbp subsurface acoustic profiling digital data acquisition system

Currently ongoing is a study in Apalachee Bay to characterize surface bottom sediments and features under the Oceans Initiative Act. In this study of two 25 square mile areas within Apalachee Bay, the Coastal Research Program is groundtruthing bottom features observed on maps generated by the FGS using high resolution side scan sonar.

A Geological Assessment of the Florida Big Bend Coastal Wetlands was initiated in July 1991 and is ongoing. This project has obtained more than $2,000,000 to collect geologic data for use by Federal, State and Local agencies in developing effective wet land preservation programs. It focuses on characterizing the wetland processes of the estuaries of the Aucilla, Apalachicola, Steinhatchee, St. Marks, Waccasassa and Ochlockonee Rivers. An analog to these estuaries is provided by monitored sites in the Ace Basin, South Carolina and Cumberland Island, Georgia. The on-going comparison of these estuaries enables better prediction of such natural systems' response to changes that are both natural (sea level change) and human-induced (increasing development).

The Offshore Springs Investigation is an innovative CRP study designed to identify Florida’s offshore freshwater springs, characterize the spring flow and water quality, and model the environmental impact and feasibility of diverting spring water onshore for use by the coastal communities facing severe potable water shortages.

The CRP is currently participating in a study to characterize the interaction between two major spring systems within the Woodville Karst Plain (WKP). This includes quantifying the interaction between surface and ground water in the WKP. Collectively, these studies will help in calculating the water budget for the Woodville Karst Plain. In addition to boats, this investigation requires flow meters, water level loggers and automatic water samplers.

Baseline Investigation of Estuarine Sediment Metals for the Steinhatchee River Area of the Florida Big Bend is another completed CRP project. This CRP research funded through a cooperative Federal agreement provided a baseline analysis which identified concentrations of metals within sediment facies of the Steinhatchee River estuary. Metal-enrichment was correlated to basin land use where possible and provides essential data to state and local planners and officials in implementing effective land use policy.

Personnel

The Coastal Research Program’s FTE staff consists of four licensed Professional Geologists who serve as principal investigators and a Marine Captain/Marine Mechanic position to operate the GeoSearch and GeoQuest. The principal investigators have significant combined experience in Florida geology, coastal processes, and marine ecosystems.

In addition, the CRP staff collaborates with various marine geology departments around the state. This includes the University of Florida (UF), University of South Florida (USF), Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) and Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO). A long standing cooperative relationship exists with Dr. Joe Donoghue, a professor of coastal processes/marine geology in the geology department at Florida State University.

This collaboration between the CRP and coastal geology departments provides opportunities for directed graduate research studies funded through employment on the CRP research grants. The FGS Coastal Research Program is committed to continuing applied research to further our understanding of Florida's coastal ecosystems and processes. This research will provide information that is essential for planning wise development, conservation and protection of Florida's valuable coastal resources.