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USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program

Field Activity Details for field activity 08CGS02

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Other ID: none

Status: Completed

Organization(s): USGS, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Funding Program(s):

Principal Investigator(s): Richard Poore

Affiliate Investigator(s):

Information Specialist(s): T Hickey, Christopher Reich

Data Type(s): Imagery: Photo, Location-Elevation: Navigation, Sampling: Geology, Time Series: Mooring (physical oceanography)

Scientific Purpose/Goals: To collect cores from 3 species of living coral heads to be used as proxies for retrospective studies of Sea Surface Temperature and paleoenvironmental conditions. And to core into the Holocene rock cap in the Dry Tortugas to be used in reconstruction of sea level history and in the understanding of geological environmental changes in the Dry Tortugas.

Vehicle(s):

Start Port/Location: Key West, FL

End Port/Location: Key West, FL

Start Date: 2008-08-04

End Date: 2008-08-04

Equipment Used: Tripods, Ashtech Z-Xtreme DGPS, Camera, Digital, Hand Held, Choke Ring Antenna, Core Barrels, Hydraulic Coring Drill

Information to be Derived: Coral cores will be used as proxies for sea surface temperature (strontium-to-calcium rations in skeletal material) and coral growth rates over time. Holocene cores will be used in the determination of sea level positioning during the past 10,000 years.

Summary of Activity and Data Gathered: Collected 9 coral head cores from 3 species (Siderastrea siderea, Montastraea faveolata, and Diploria strigosa) within the Dry Tortugas Naitonal Park, primarily in the northeastern quadrant of the park. Holocene cores were collected at 3 sites. Depths drilled ranged from 10 to 18 meters below seafloor. Elevation was collected for the Holocene coring sites by using a dual-frequencey GPS system with Thales choke-ring setup. A basestation was established on a known benchmark, located on top of the fort on garden key, was used to increase the precision of the horizontal and vertical position/elevation at the coring sites.

Staff: Caitlin Reynolds, Jennifer Flannery, Barbara Lidz, Billy Reynolds

Affiliate Staff:

Notes: Equipment Used: Batteries

Location:

Dry Tortugas National Park, FL

Boundaries
North: 24.7240596 South: 24.45802992 West: -83.0345 East: -82.63046329

Platform(s):

photo of Halimeda
Halimeda

Publications

DeLong, K.L., Maupin, C.R., Flannery, J.A., Quinn, T.M., Shen, C.-C., 2016, Refining temperature reconstructions with the Atlantic coral Siderastrea siderea: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 462, pp. 1–15, doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.08.028.

Flannery, J.A., Richey, J.N., Thirumalai, K., Poore, R.Z., DeLong, K.L., 2016, Multi-species Coral Sr/Ca based sea-surface temperature reconstruction data using Orbicella faveolata and Siderastrea siderea from Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7CC0XS9.

Flannery, J.A., Richey, J.N., Thirumalai, K., Poore, R.Z., DeLong, K.L., 2017, Multi-species coral Sr/Ca-based sea-surface temperature reconstruction using Orbicella faveolata and Siderastrea siderea from the Florida Straits: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 466, pp. 100–109, doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.10.022.

Hickey, T.D., Reich, C.D., DeLong, K.L., Poore, R.Z., Brock, J.C., 2013, Holocene core logs and site methods for modern reef and head-coral cores: Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2012-1095, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20121095.

Muslic, A., Flannery, J.A., Reich, C.D., Umberger, D.K., Smoak, J.M., Poore, R.Z., 2013, Linear extension rates of massive corals from the Dry Tortugas National Park (DRTO), Florida: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2013-1121, 22 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20131121.

Toth, L.T., Courtney, T.A., Colella, M.A., Kupfner Johnson, S.A., Ruzicka, R.R., 2022, The past, present, and future of coral reef growth in the Florida Keys: Global Change Biology, Glob Change Biol, v. 28 no. 17, pp. 5294–5309, doi: 10.1111/gcb.16295.

Toth, L.T., Stathakopoulos, A., 2019, The absolute and relative composition of Holocene Reef Cores from the Florida Keys reef tract: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P93XXXA0.

Toth, L.T., Stathakopoulos, A., Kuffner, I.B., 2018, Descriptive core logs, core photographs, radiocarbon ages, and accretion data from Holocene reef cores collected throughout the Florida Keys reef tract: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7NV9HJX.

Portals/Viewers

Data Acquired

Survey EquipmentSurvey InfoData Type(s)Data Collected
Tripods --- Mooring (physical oceanography)
Benchmarks
Navigation
No data was collected
Ashtech Z-Xtreme DGPS --- Benchmarks
Navigation
08CGS02-NL-rd-1 (GPS points)
Camera, Digital, Hand Held --- Photo
08CGS02-PV-rd-1 (field photos)
Choke Ring Antenna --- Benchmarks
Navigation
No data was collected
Core Barrels --- Geology
08CGS02-SA-rd-1 (Coral and Holocene Rock Cores from DRTO)
08CGS02-SA-pd-3 (evaluation of coral DRTO 2008)
08CGS02-SA-pd-4 (core description sheets (lithologic descriptions))
08CGS02-SA-pd-6 (Sr/Ca analysis)
08CGS02-SA-pd-5 (core photographs)
Hydraulic Coring Drill --- Geology

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