IDENTIFYING INFORMATION
Project title: Florida Cooperative Mapping
Geographic area: South Florida
Project start date: 10/01/95
Project end date: 09/30/00

Project chief: Bruce R. Wardlaw
Region/Division/Team/Section: Eastern/Geologic/Eastern Region National Geologic Mapping Team
Email: bwardlaw@usgs.gov
Phone: 703-648-5288
Fax: 703-648-5420
Mail address: 926A National Center

Program(s) (list all programs to which this work plan is being submitted):
Integrated Natural Resource Science Program
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program

Program element(s)/task(s) (show percent distribution if more than one element/task) If submitting to more than one program, include element(s)/tasks from each program here:

Integrated Natural Resource Science Program
        Element 1. Preparation of Element Syntheses.--7%
                        Task 1.5. Ecosystem History.--6%
                        Task 1.7. Aspects of Florida Bay, Florida Keys, and the Coral Reefs, including:
                                2. Paleoecology, with emphasis on salinity history.--1%
        Element 2. Modeling and Support Studies for Southern Inland Coastal Systems of South Dade County (Including the Buttonwood Enbankment)--13%
                        Task 2.10. Terrestrial and fresh water ecosystem history.--13%
        Element 3. Modeling and Support Studies of Southern Inland Coastal Systems of Eastern Dade County and Biscayne Bay.--12%
                        Task 3.6. Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the Southeast Coast.--12%
        Element 5. Ecological and Geological Studies of Southwest Florida.--20%
                        Task 5.1. Hydrogeology of the surficial aquifer system in southwest Florida.--20%
        Element 6. Ecosystem History.--17%
                        Task 6.1. Faunal and Geochemical Change.--2%
                        Task 6.3. Ecosystem History of Florida Bay and the SW coast.--15%
        Element 9. Ecological Success Criteria.--3%
                        Task 9.2. Salinity as a success criteria.--3%

National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program
        Element 4. Geologic Maps for Natural Resource and Ecosystem Management.--28%
                        Task 4.2. Geologic, stratigraphic, and pale-environmental information for management of natural resources in other parts of the country (South Florida).--28% 

BACKGROUND NARRATIVES

Project summary: A brief (<100 words) summary written to be understood by a nonspecialist. State the issues to be addressed, the objectives of the project, significance to scientific questions and land-management and policy issues, and benefit to the Nation, all in terms that do not require technical translation. This paragraph will be used to describe this project in the Program and Division science plans.
This project is divided into two themes and 6 subprojects:
Theme 1: Ecosystem History
1. Ecosystems History: Terrestrial and Fresh-water Ecosystems of Southern Florida.
2. Ecosystem History of Florida Bay and the Southwest Coast.
3. Ecosystem History of Biscayne Bay and the Southeast Coast.
4. Critical Results, Ecosystem History of South Florida Theme 2: Stratigraphy and Geohydrology
5. Hydrogeology of the surficial aquifer system in southwest Florida.
6. Cenozoic/Holocene stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and paleoecology of Florida.
The objectives are to provide the framework for understanding (1) the resource distribution (water, phosphate, etc.) in the subsurface of Florida (i.e., the detailed geology of constraining and resource units) and (2) ecosystem variability and change prior to and during human development of South Florida (i.e., the detailed ecosystem history over the last 200 years differentiating natural variability from man-made change).

Project objectives and strategy: More detailed/technical than the project summary, describing BRIEFLY the technical goals and approaches to be used over the LIFETIME of the project.
A multitude of water-related societal issues face southern Florida in the 1990's. These include irrigation demands of agricultural; business, run-off from agricultural lands and canals, increasing demands of a rapidly growing population in the Naples and Miami area (Miami showing the fourth fastest growth rate in the U.S. in the 1980's), the recently mandated restoration of natural sheet flow through the Everglades ecosystem, and vitality of the important fisheries of Florida Bay. This project provides a baseline for the geologic framework of aquifers and a baseline for ecosystem variability and tracks the change in ecosystems through the last several hundred years to provide critical information for reasonable restoration targets to land planners and managers in southern Florida. The strategy is to sample modern environments to understand the present ecosystem and locate (with collaborators) undisturbed cores to analyze ecosystem variability and change over the last few hundred years. Analyze deep cores for sedimentology, diagenesis, biostratigraphy, paleoecology, chemostratigraphy in transects across the Florida Peninsula to better understand the subsurface resource distribution, especially provide detailed description of aquifer characteristics. Analysis includes distribution and abundance of micro mollusks, foraminifers, dinocysts, diatoms, ostracodes, pollen and spores, charcoal, elemental geochemistry and strontium isotopes. Salinity, seagrass, and tree island indicators are critically analyzed. Report all results (see following summary diagrams of the two themes of the project).

Potential impacts and major products: Describe expected outcomes, both scientific and management/policy-related. What scientific questions and land-management and policy issues does this project help answer? Why is it important to Program priorities? What products will you produce to contribute to the desired outcomes? Executive summaries of critical impacts to land managers will be provided during the final phases of the project. These summaries will include the natural variability and averages for salinity and hydroperiod which should be critical values for determining successful restoration criteria. See following summary diagram of the two themes of the project for more outcomes.

Collaborators, clients (Names, affiliation, and roles of internal and external users of information generated by project):
The project is funded jointly by the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping and the Integrated Natural Resource Science Programs, with added support by the Army Corp of Engineers and South Florida Water Management  District. The project is conducted in coordination with other projects based in the Energy Program of GD, the Coastal and Marine Program of GD in St. Petersburg, FL, and WRD (specifically, the Miami office of the southern Subdistrict, Florida WRD), BRD, and NMD. Other agencies involved in site selection, field support, and others aspects of the project include South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management, Florida Game and Fresh-Water Fish Commission (FGFWFC), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Florida Geological Survey, Florida Institute of Oceanography, University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Miami, and several local state parks. In addition the project interfaces with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (largely in the ecosystem history aspects). Specifically, the project works closely with Robert B. Halley, Eugene Shinn (sedimentation) and Charles W. Holmes (geochronology), Coastal and Marine Program, St. Petersburg, Thomas M. Scott (sediments, subsurface geology), Assistant State Geologist, Florida Geological Survey, and Fred L. Paillet (geophysics) and Ron Reese (geohydrology), WRD.

FY 1999 activities: Statement of the work to be undertaken in FY 1999 and a description of the methods and procedures.
1. Complete core description and analysis, stratigraphic, sedimentologic and hydrologic data compilation to write final report for hydrogeology of the surficial aquifer system of southwest Florida.
2. Complete description of South Venice core that completes deep subsurface transect of South Florida, publish results as a bulletin.
3. Initiate two-year seismic profile program to map the top surface of the Arcadia Formation, a major
subsurface sequence boundary.
4. Complete processing and analysis of all terrestrial cores collected through FY 1998.
5. Complete analysis of Whipray and Park Key cores from the bays.
6. Conduct field work on tree islands in collaboration with SFWMD and FGFWFC.
7. Continue field work on modern census and monitoring sites, develop plan for making monitoring sites for testing restoration success values.
8. Collect 2-3 cores to address seagrass history.
9. Develop modern faunal and floral trace element calibration of calcareous organisms.
10. Compile map of modern distribution of faunal and floral elements in Biscayne Bay.
11. Write, compile, and edit technical synthesis volume on ecosystem history of South Florida, distill from this a colorful USGS Circular.

FY 1999 deliverables/products: Describe in more detail the specific deliverables/products that will result from this work in FY 1999.
12. USGS Professional Paper: The Hydrogeology of the Surficial Aquifer System of Southwest Florida
13. USGS Bulletin: Stratigraphy of South Florida.
14. OFR on pollen analysis of terrestrial cores.
15. OFR on Whipray Core.
16. OFR on Park Key Core.
17. OFR on progress on the modern faunal and floral trace element calibration of calcareous organisms.
18. Digital map of modern distributions of faunal and floral elements in Biscayne Bay.
19. Technical Synthesis volume published as a Special Volume of the Paleontological Research Institute on ecosystem history with a section on the impacts to land managers.
20. USGS Circular on Ecosystem History of South Florida.

FY 1999 outreach: Emphasizing FY 1999, describe plans to address client requirements, decisions, and deadlines. Widely distribute OFR's and other publications to all collaborators and clients, have them available on the web. Upgrade website. Conduct work review seminars with clients (SFWMD, Florida Bay Science Conference, others). Plan and contribute a display to the new Biscayne National Park Visitor's Center.

New directions or major changes for FY 1999 (if applicable): Now that salinity history has been successfully documented from several cores in Florida and Biscayne Bay, expand core locations so that all sub-basins of Florida Bay are adequately represented to develop complete salinity model, Collect a "never seagrass", a "always seagrass" and a "seagrass die-off" core to confirm the paleontological technique and to complete the documentation of seagrass history in the bay. Document tree island history for several tree island sites.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS, OUTCOMES, PRODUCTS, OUTREACH
FY 1998 accomplishments and outcomes, including outreach:
The major outcome this year is obtaining absolute and relative salinity values over the last 150 years for bay cores, tying the salinity trends to El Nino cycles in winter rainfall, and characterizing marsh and slough vegetation to hydroperiod length. Individual accomplishments and outcomes are listed with each subproject work plans that are attached.

FY 1998 deliverables, products completed:
Brewster-Wingard, G.L., Ishman, S.E., Waibel, N.J., Willard, B.A., Edwards, L.E., and Holmes, C.W., 1998, Preliminary paleontologic report on Core 37, from Pass Key, Everglades National Park, Florida Bay: USGS Open File Report 98-122, 22 p.

Brewster-Wingard, G.L., Ishman, S.E., Holmes, C.W., 1998, Environmental Impacts on the southern Florida Coastal Waters: A history of change in Florida Bay: Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue 26, p. 162-172.

Brewster-Wingard, G.L., Ishman, S.E., Cronin, T.M., 1998, Historical salinity and seagrass trends in Florida Bay derived from benthic faunal data: Proceedings, 1998 Florida Bay Science Conference.

Cronin, T.M., Halley, R.B., Brewster-Wingard, G.L., Holmes, C.W., Dwyer, G.S., and Ishman, 1998, Climatic and anthropogenic influence on Florida Bay Salinity over the past century: Proceedings, 1998 Florida Bay Science Conference.

Edwards, L.E., Weedman, S.D., Simmons, K.R., Scott, T.M., Brewster-Wingard, G.L., Ishman, S.E. and Carlin, N.M., 1998, Lithostratigraphy, petrography, biostratigraphy, and strontium-isotope stratigraphy of surficial aquifer system of western Collier County, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 98-205, 79 p.

Hite, L.R., 1997, Aquifer delineation in southwest Florida using time-domain electromagnetics, M.S. Thesis, Wright State University, Dayton, 167 p.

Huvane, Jacqueline, Pyle, Laura, and Cooper, S.R., 1998, Diatoms as paleoecological indicators of environmental change in the Florida Bay ecosystem: Proceedings, 1998 Florida Bay Science Conference.

Ishman, S.E., Cronin, T.M., Brewster-Wingard, G.L., Willard, D.A., and Verardo, D.J., 1998, A record of ecosystem change, Manatee Bay, Barnes Sound, Florida: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 26, p. 125-138.

Paillet, F.L., Hite, L.R., and Carlson, M., 1998, Integrating surface and borehole geophysics in ground water studies--an example from South Florida: Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Environmental and Engineering Problems, Chicago, Illinois, March, 1998 [Proceedings], p. 349-358.

Paillet, F.L., and Weedman, S.D., 1996, Using borehole logs and core to identify and characterize confining units in the surficial aquifer system of south Florida: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 28, p. 25.

Paillet, F.L., and Weedman, S.D., 1998, Integrating surface and borehole measurements to develop a shallow ground-water flow model in southwest Florida: American Geophysical Union, Annual Meeting, Boston.

Stone, J.R., and Brewster, G.L., 1998, The south Florida Ecosystem History database: Proceedings, 1998 Florida Bay Science Conference.

Wardlaw, B.R., Weedman, S.D., Carlin, N.M., and Scott, T.M., 1997, Preliminary investigation of the "River of Sand": Fact and Fiction: 2,d Annual USGS South Florida Ecosystem Meeting, Ft. Lauderdale.

Weedman, S.D., 1996, Hydrogeology of the surficial aquifer system of southwest Florida, FS-158-96.

Weedman, S.D., Paillet, F.L., Means, G.H., and Scott, T.M., 1997, Lithology and geophysics of the surficial aquifer system in western Collier County, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 97-436, 167 p.

Weedman, S.D., Simmons, K.R., and Edwards, L.E., 1996, Episodic dolomitization of the Florida platform from late Oligocene to middle Miocene: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 28, p. 226-337.

Weedman, S.D., Edwards, L.E., Simmons, K.R., Brewster-Wingard, G.L., Ishman, S.E., and Wardlaw, B.R., 1997, Geologic framework of the surficial aquifer system of southwest Florida, 2nd Annual USGS South Florida Ecosystem Meeting, Ft. Lauderdale, USGS Open File Report 97-385.

Weedman, S.D., Paillet, F.L., and Wardlaw, B.R., 1997, Sedimentologic and geophysical characterization of the surficial aquifer system under the wetlands of southwest Florida: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program, v. 29, p. 176.

Weimer, L.M., 1998, Taylor Slough, Dade Co., Florida: A vegetational history: M.S., Thesis, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.

Willard, D.A., Brewster-Wingard, G.L., Fellman, C. and Ishman, S.E., 1997, Paleontological Data from Mud Creek Core 1, southern Florida: USGS Open File Report 97-736.

Willard, D.A., 1997, Pollen census data from souther Florida: sites along a nutrient gradient in Water Conservation Area 2A: USGS Open File Report 97-497.

Willard, D.A., and Weimer, L.M., 1997, Palynological census data from surface samples in south Florida: USGS Open File Report 97-867.

Willard, D.A., Holmes, C.W., Murray, J.M., Orem, W.H., and Weimer, L.M., in press, Biotic and geochemical changes in the south Florida ecosystem over the last two millennia: Science.

Willard, D.A., and Murray, J.M., in prep., Peat petrography and charcoal content of cores from southern Florida: USGS Open File Report.

PROJECT SUPPORT REQUIREMENTS
Names and expertise (e.g. carbonate petrology) of key project staff (list by fiscal year for duration of project): See summary theme diagram, all staff are needed for the duration and completion of the project.

Other required expertise for which no individual has been identified (list by fiscal year for duration of project): None