Complex Carbonate and Clastic Stratigraphy of the Inner Shelf Off West-Central Florida: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The near surface stratigraphy (< 30 m) of the inner shelf off the west coast of Florida was investigated using high-resolution seismic, side-scan sonar, and continuous underwater video camera coverage. The simultaneous operation of all three systems provided a unique opportunity to calibrate acoustic data with actual video images of the sea floor in a geologically complex area characterized by limestone dissolution structures, hard-bottom exposures, and overlain by a limited supply of terrigenous clastics. Three principle bottom types, grass, sand, and hard-bottom mapped using video and side-scan sonographs, show a correlation with two subsurface stratigraphic zones. The nearshore subsurface zone extending to 6-7 m water depth is characterized by flat or rolling strata and sinkholes that increase in size (200-1,200 m in diameter) and become more numerous further offshore. This zone is truncated by a major erosional unconformity overlain by a thin (<3 m) sequence of Holocene sediment, which together form a terrace upon which the Anclote Key barrier island formed. The offshore subsurface zone (7-11 m water depth) exhibits irregular and discontinuous high-amplitude flat or inclined reflections and few sinkholes. Offshore, extensive hard-bottom exposures are common with discontinuous sediment that occur as lenses or sand waves. The complex stratigraphymore » of the west Florida shelf includes outcropping Neogene limestones that have undergone dissolution during sea level lowstands. Carbonates and clastics dispersed during multiple sea level changes overlie the Neogene limestones. Dissolution styles and erosional unconformities produced bedrock topography and now control modern geological and biological processes.« less