Definition and interpretation of Holocene shorelines in the south Atlantic coastal zone, southeast Florida
There is a wide variety of contemporary shorelines in southeastern Florida. Distinctive types range from rocky platforms, tidal flats, mangroves and marshes, to sand and gravel beaches. Because the natural sequence of shorelines in the urban coastal corridor from Miami to Palm Beach is partly obscured by dredge and fill operations initiated in the early 1920's, some coastal segments are subject to re-interpretation. Analysis of early aerial photographs, old coastal charts and bore log data indicates a much more complicated sequence of Recent coastlines than is generally appreciated. Before development, much of the coastal zone contained complicated networks of fresh-water marshes and lakes with lagoons, bays, and sounds lying behind extensively developed spits. The larger spits prograded southward (downdrift) forming long coastwise sounds that eventually led into fresh-water marshes such as Lake Mabel (now Port Everglades). When new inlets were cut to link the ICW with the sea, the spits were beheaded to form what are now called barrier islands. After subsequent inlet stabilization with inadequate sand bypassing, some spits became welded to the shore and others eroded away. Extension of boundaries marking the back sides of barriers landward into the marshes, to the position of the ICW, is not only an erroneous definition of barrier island width but dangerous for emergency (storm surge) planning because the barriers were never this wide. Beach ridge plains, ridge and swale topography, dune-covered limestone ridges, and some fossil reefs such as Key Biscayne have in addition been mistakenly identified as barrier islands.
- Research Organization:
- Coastal Education and Research Foundation, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6645143
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8510489-
- Journal Information:
- Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 17; Conference: 98. annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Orlando, FL, USA, 28 Oct 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Sedimentary environments, evolution, and stratigraphic framework of laterally prograding transgressive barrier complex: Timbalier Island, Louisiana
Model of inner shelf shoal development, Beaufort Sea, Alaska