Since 1982 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has collected a large amount of surficial and shallow subsurface geologic information in the deep parts of the Gulf of Mexico. These data include digital sidescan sonar imagery, digital seismic-reflection data, and descriptions and analyses of piston and gravity cores. The data were collected during several different projects that addressed surficial and shallow subsurface geologic processes. Some of these data sets have already been published, but the growing interest in the occurrence and distribution of gas hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico warrants integrating these existing data and associated interpretations into a GIS to provide regional background information for ongoing and future gas hydrate research.

A zone of deep-water reefs is thought to extend from the mid and outer shelf south of Mississippi and Alabama to at least the northwestern Florida shelf off Panama City, Florida. Reefs off Mississippi and Alabama are found in water depths of 60 to 120 m (Ludwick and Walton, 1957, Gardner et al., in press) and were the focus of a multibeam echosounder mapping survey by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2000 (Gardner et al., 2000, in press). It is critical to determine the accurate geomorphology and type of the reefs that occur because of their importance as benthic habitats for fisheries. These data are ArcInfo GRID and XYZ ASCII format data generated from a U.S. Geological Survey multibeam sonar survey of the West Florida Shelf, Gulf of Mexico. The data include high-resolution bathymetry and calibrated acoustic backscatter. File types include arc files .dat, .nit, and .adf. Documentation is included as metadata .txt files. Because the area is so large (i.e., the file sizes are very large), the area was subdivided into North, Central, and South regions as reflected in the data subdirectories for this accession.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center extracted sediment and surface samples along transects at three saltmarsh sites situated on the lower end of the Waccasassa River in north-west Florida in order to increase understanding of the region’s environmental history and the ongoing soil chemical processes. To this end, they obtained 17 (ten long and seven short) sediment cores and seven surface samples from saltmarshes along the margins of the river, during field trips in November 2014 and February 2015. Site names are WC01, WC04, WC05, WC10, WC11, WC12, WC20, WC21, WC22, and WC23. Long cores from each location are given the location name and the suffix “R”, surface samples are noted with a “S”, and short cores are given the location name and the suffix “D”, except for the cores taken at sites WC22 and WC23. At those two sites, the short cores were obtained by extracting two parallel peat auger samples to a depth of 50 cm, named WC22Ra-b, and WC23Ra-b, respectively.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center extracted sediment and surface samples along transects at three saltmarsh sites situated on the lower end of the Waccasassa River in north-west Florida in order to increase understanding of the region’s environmental history and the ongoing soil chemical processes. To this end, they obtained 17 (ten long and seven short) sediment cores and seven surface samples from saltmarshes along the margins of the river, during field trips in November 2014 and February 2015. Site names are WC01, WC04, WC05, WC10, WC11, WC12, WC20, WC21, WC22, and WC23. Long cores from each location are given the location name and the suffix “R”, surface samples are noted with a “S”, and short cores are given the location name and the suffix “D”, except for the cores taken at sites WC22 and WC23. At those two sites, the short cores were obtained by extracting two parallel peat auger samples to a depth of 50 cm, named WC22Ra-b, and WC23Ra-b, respectively.

In 2010, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected sediment cores from coastal waters offshore of the Mississippi barrier islands. With funding support from the Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Change and Hazard Susceptibility project (NGOM), subaqueous sediment cores were collected over an area of 480 km2, the distance from Ship Island to Petit Bois Island Pass, Mississippi, within the boundary of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. This represents only a fraction of the total area encompassed by the NGOM project, which extends from Sabine Lake, Louisiana to Perdido Bay, Alabama. The primary objectives of the NGOM project are to understand the evolution of coastal ecosystems on the northern gulf coast, the impact of human activities on these ecosystems, and the vulnerability of ecosystems and human communities to more frequent and intense hurricanes in the future. Selection of the core sites was based on geophysical surveys conducted around the islands from 2008-2010. The surveys, using acoustic systems to image and interpret the nearsurface stratigraphy, were conducted to investigate the geologic controls on island evolution. This data series serves as an archive of sediment data collected from August to September, 2010 offshore of the Mississippi barrier islands. Data products, including descriptive core logs, core photographs, results of sediment grain-size analyses, sample location maps, and Geographic Information System (GIS) data files with accompanying formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FDGC) metadata, can be downloaded from the data products and downloads page.

In 2010, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected sediment cores from coastal waters offshore of the Mississippi barrier islands. With funding support from the Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Change and Hazard Susceptibility project (NGOM), subaqueous sediment cores were collected over an area of 480 km2, the distance from Ship Island to Petit Bois Island Pass, Mississippi, within the boundary of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. This represents only a fraction of the total area encompassed by the NGOM project, which extends from Sabine Lake, Louisiana to Perdido Bay, Alabama. The primary objectives of the NGOM project are to understand the evolution of coastal ecosystems on the northern gulf coast, the impact of human activities on these ecosystems, and the vulnerability of ecosystems and human communities to more frequent and intense hurricanes in the future. Selection of the core sites was based on geophysical surveys conducted around the islands from 2008-2010. The surveys, using acoustic systems to image and interpret the nearsurface stratigraphy, were conducted to investigate the geologic controls on island evolution. This data series serves as an archive of sediment data collected from August to September, 2010 offshore of the Mississippi barrier islands. Data products, including descriptive core logs, core photographs, results of sediment grain-size analyses, sample location maps, and Geographic Information System (GIS) data files with accompanying formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FDGC) metadata, can be downloaded from the data products and downloads page.

XYZ ASCII format data generated from the 2001 multibeam sonar survey of the West Florida Shelf, Gulf of Mexico. The data include high-resolution bathymetry and calibrated acoustic backscatter.

This data set contains sediment grain size and textural information from the Continental Margin Program. The program was a joint collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during the 1960s to conduct a geological reconnaissance investigation of the continental shelf and slope off the Atlantic coast of the United States. Only those records with complete size analyses are included in this data set. Other stations where only lithologic descriptions are available have been excluded.

This data set contains sediment grain size and textural information from the Continental Margin Program. The program was a joint collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during the 1960s to conduct a geological reconnaissance investigation of the continental shelf and slope off the Atlantic coast of the United States. Only those records with complete size analyses are included in this data set. Other stations where only lithologic descriptions are available have been excluded.

XYZ ASCII format data generated from the 2001 multibeam sonar survey of the West Florida Shelf, Gulf of Mexico. The data include high-resolution bathymetry and calibrated acoustic backscatter.