You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU College Collections

Morphologic features and morphodynamic zones along the inner continental shelf of southeastern Florida: an example of form and process controlled by lithology

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
2005
Summary:
Submarine morphological features along the southeast Florida coast in central Palm Beach County were mapped from large-scale aerial images (acquisition scale 1:3900) that permitted feature resolution in water depths of 10 to 15 m. The analog stereo-paired images were scanned to black and white digital images that were georegistered for inclusion in a spatial analysis program. Interpretive techniques for identifying submarine morphological features on the inner continental shelf were developed by adapting methods of aerial photointerpretation to computerized onscreen digitizing. This narrow coastal zone tract (up to 500 m in width) contained coastal-marine forms developed in the local limestone bedrock and unconsolidated sediments. Hardground features included rock reefs (exposure of the local Anastasia Formation) and coral-algal reefs of the Florida Reef Tract. In addition to common types of marine platforms and benches, rock reefs and para(dia)bathic hardground stringers are described here for the first time, as are structurally controlled sandflats. Sedimentary features included bars and troughs in addition to various types of soft bottoms. The amalgamation of similar submarine morphologies into morphodynamic zones spatially delineated the impacts of coastal-marine processes during the most recent stabilization of sea-level rise during the last few thousand years of the Holocene. Analysis of the spatial distributions for the various morphological types shows distinct zonations alongshore and cross-shore in terms of the forcing hydrodynamic processes. Karst morphologies of the coastal landscape drowned by the Holocene rise in sea level configure much of the seafloor and prefigure many coastal forms. Lithology exerts a strong control over the spatial arrangement of morphological features, which are seen as repetitive occurrences of similar morphological groupings. Distinctive coastal process zones, based on principles of form and function, define the Beach Depositional Zone (BDZ), bar-and-trough Inshore Depositional Zone (lDZ), sandflat Offshore Depositional Zone (ODZ), Offshore Erosional Zone containing hardgrounds (OEZ), Parabathic Transport Blockers (PTB) comprised by inlet diabathic processes, and Diabathic Transport Blockers (DTB) containing shore-parallel barrier reefs.
Title: Morphologic features and morphodynamic zones along the inner continental shelf of southeastern Florida: an example of form and process controlled by lithology.
124 views
35 downloads
Name(s): Finkl, Charles W., creator
Warner, Mathew T., creator
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Article
Issuance: single unit
Date Issued: 2005
Publisher: Coastal Education & Research Foundation, Inc.
Physical Description: text/pdf[35p.]
Language(s): English
Summary: Submarine morphological features along the southeast Florida coast in central Palm Beach County were mapped from large-scale aerial images (acquisition scale 1:3900) that permitted feature resolution in water depths of 10 to 15 m. The analog stereo-paired images were scanned to black and white digital images that were georegistered for inclusion in a spatial analysis program. Interpretive techniques for identifying submarine morphological features on the inner continental shelf were developed by adapting methods of aerial photointerpretation to computerized onscreen digitizing. This narrow coastal zone tract (up to 500 m in width) contained coastal-marine forms developed in the local limestone bedrock and unconsolidated sediments. Hardground features included rock reefs (exposure of the local Anastasia Formation) and coral-algal reefs of the Florida Reef Tract. In addition to common types of marine platforms and benches, rock reefs and para(dia)bathic hardground stringers are described here for the first time, as are structurally controlled sandflats. Sedimentary features included bars and troughs in addition to various types of soft bottoms. The amalgamation of similar submarine morphologies into morphodynamic zones spatially delineated the impacts of coastal-marine processes during the most recent stabilization of sea-level rise during the last few thousand years of the Holocene. Analysis of the spatial distributions for the various morphological types shows distinct zonations alongshore and cross-shore in terms of the forcing hydrodynamic processes. Karst morphologies of the coastal landscape drowned by the Holocene rise in sea level configure much of the seafloor and prefigure many coastal forms. Lithology exerts a strong control over the spatial arrangement of morphological features, which are seen as repetitive occurrences of similar morphological groupings. Distinctive coastal process zones, based on principles of form and function, define the Beach Depositional Zone (BDZ), bar-and-trough Inshore Depositional Zone (lDZ), sandflat Offshore Depositional Zone (ODZ), Offshore Erosional Zone containing hardgrounds (OEZ), Parabathic Transport Blockers (PTB) comprised by inlet diabathic processes, and Diabathic Transport Blockers (DTB) containing shore-parallel barrier reefs.
Identifier: 3174248 (digitool), FADT3174248 (IID), fau:2027 (fedora)
FAU Department/College: Department of Geosciences Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3174248
Restrictions on Access: ©2005 Coastal Education & Research Foundation, Inc.
Host Institution: FAU

In Collections