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Sediment data collected in 2014 and 2015 from around Breton and Gosier Islands, Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana

Data Series 1037
By: , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1037

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Abstract

Breton Island, located at the southern end of the Chandeleur Islands, supports one of Louisiana’s largest historical brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) nesting colonies. Although the brown pelican was delisted as an endangered species in 2009, nesting areas are threatened by continued land loss and are extremely vulnerable to storm impacts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to restore Breton Island to pre-Hurricane Katrina conditions through rebuilding the shoreface, dune, and back-barrier marsh environments. Prior to restoration, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center Geologic and Morphologic Evolution of Coastal Margins project collected high-resolution geophysical (topography, bathymetry, and sub-bottom profiles) and sedimentologic data from around Breton Island to characterize the geologic framework of the island platform, nearshore, and shelf environments. These data will be used to characterize the geologic framework around Breton Island, identify potential borrow areas for restoration efforts, quantify seafloor change, and provide information for sediment transport and morphologic change models to assess island response to restoration and natural processes.

This report, along with the accompanying USGS data release, serves as an archive of sediment data from vibracores, push cores, and submerged grab samples collected from around Breton and Gosier Islands, Louisiana, during two surveys conducted in July 2014 and January 2015 (USGS Field Activity Numbers 2014–314–FA and 2014–336–FA, respectively). Sedimentologic and stratigraphic metrics (for example, sediment texture or unit thicknesses) derived from these data can be used to ground-truth the geophysical data and characterize potential sand resources or can be incorporated into sediment transport or morphologic change models. Data products, including sample location tables, descriptive core logs, core photographs and x-radiographs, results of sediment grain-size analyses, and geographic information system data files with accompanying formal Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata can be downloaded from the accompanying data release.

Suggested Citation

Bernier, J.C., Kelso, K.W., Tuten, T.M., Stalk, C.A., and Flocks, J.G., 2017, Sediment data collected in 2014 and 2015 from around Breton and Gosier Islands, Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1037, https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1037.

ISSN: 2327-638X (online)

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Table of Contents

  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Field Data Collection
  • Laboratory Methods and Analyses
  • Core Viewer
  • Abbreviations
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Sediment data collected in 2014 and 2015 from around Breton and Gosier Islands, Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana
Series title Data Series
Series number 1037
DOI 10.3133/ds1037
Year Published 2017
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Description HTML Document
Country United States
State Louisiana
Other Geospatial Breton Islands, Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Gosier Island
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details