U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
OFR 00-158
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There has been an active interest in Crescent Beach Spring that spans more than 100 years. The U.S. Coastal Survey produced the first detailed bathymetric chart of Crescent Beach Spring and surroundings in 1875. Pioneering efforts in defining the underlying geologic framework and hydrogeologic controls at Crescent Beach Spring were first introduced by Stringfield and Cooper (1951) and Brooks (1961). ManheimÌs (1967) discoveries of freshened interstitial waters as far as 120 km off the coast of Florida further suggest the occurrence of distal discharge zones that appear to be associated with Eocene outcrops, fractures or dissolution features. These early works recognized potential recharge areas for widespread coastal submarine discharge but also realized the complexity in defining flow paths in highly permeable karstic terrain. In more recent years, USGS scientists have incorporated the area surrounding Crescent Beach Spring into a high-resolution seismic survey of select coastlines of Atlantic Coastal Plain states. Results from these surveys served as the impetus for renewed hydrogeochemistry research efforts at Crescent Beach Spring. |
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Brooks, H.K., 1961, The submarine spring
off Crescent Beach, Florida. Quart. J. Florida Acad., Sci., v. 24:
p. 122-134.
Chappell, J., and Shackleton, N.J., 1986,
Oxygen isotopes and sea level. Nature, v. 324, p. 137-140.
Kindinger, J.L., Davis, J.B., and Flocks,
J.G., 1999, Geology and evolution of Lakes in North-Central Florida. Environmental
Geology, 38(4): p. 301-323.
Manheim, F. T., 1967, Evidence for submarine
discharge of water on the Atlantic continental slope of the southern United
States, and suggestions for further research. New York Acad. Sci.
Trans. Ser. 2, v. 29: p. 839-853.
Popenoe, P., Kohout, F.A., and Manheim,
F.T., 1984, Seismic-reflection studies of sinkholes and limestone dissolution
features on the north- eastern Florida shelf, in Proceeding of First Multidisciplinary
Conference on Sinkholes: Orlando, Florida, October 15-17, 1984: p. 43.
57.
Stringfield, V.T. and Cooper, J.R., 1951,
Geologic and hydrologic features of an artesian submarine spring east of
Florida. Florida Geol. Survey Rept. Invest., No. 7: p. 61-72
For more information contact:
Related information:
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
(Click on image above for larger version.)
(Click on image above for larger version.)
Water sources and transport pathways at
Crescent Beach Spring are being examined by collecting water from a series
of shallow onshore wells, the spring itself, and the surrounding ocean
water column using a suite of chemical tracers and major ions. Well water
directly adjacent to Crescent Beach Spring is geochemically very similar
to the Crescent Beach Spring water and vastly different compared to surrounding
seawater. In contrast, the composition of a more distal onshore well
is surprisingly different from Crescent Beach Spring water. Four
naturally occurring radium isotopes with half-lives that range from 3.8
days to 1,600 years were also utilized to help delineate apparent ground-water
flow paths. By comparing radium activities in several onshore wells
with those of Crescent Beach Spring and ambient seawater, it appears that
the flow regime that delivers water to Crescent Beach Spring is narrow
and highly conducive for rapid water exchange (e.g., conduit/fracture flow).
REFERENCES:
Peter W. Swarzenski or
Christopher D. Reich
U.S. Geological Survey
Center for Coastal Geology
600 Fourth Street South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
ph.: (727) 803-8747
email:
pswarzen@usgs.gov or
creich@usgs.gov
SOFIA Project: Tracing the Mixing of Groundwater into Coastal Waters Utilizing a New Radiometric Technique: Radium Isotope Systematics to Look at the Geologic Control of Aquifers
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Last updated: 17 March, 2005 @ 01:02 PM (KP)