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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 63 (1979)

Issue: 3. (March)

First Page: 508

Last Page: 508

Title: Sediment Dispersal at Fort George Inlet, Florida: ABSTRACT

Author(s): Shea Penland

Article Type: Meeting abstract

Abstract:

Fort George Inlet is located in northeastern Florida, 0.9 km north of the St. Johns River. The geomorphic history of Fort George Inlet is characterized by migration.

The pattern and rate of sediment dispersal were established through fluorescent sand tracing, tidal-current measurement, and bed-form mapping. Morphologic changes were determined utilizing nearshore and beach profiles established in 1923 and 1974, as well as air photos, hydrographic surveys, historical maps, and coastal climate data.

Fort George Inlet partially intercepts the southerly littoral drift (estimate of 190,000 m3/year based on SSMO data) and deposits sediment along Little Talbot Island and Wards Bank, altering the hydrodynamic system in the study area. In the past, accretion at Little Talbot Island (average rate of 142,880 m3/year) forced Fort George Inlet south at an average rate of 36 m/year. However, in 1961 the direction of inlet migration was reversed and is now northward at a rate of 21 m/year. Sediment intercepted by Fort George Inlet is producing a recurved spit extending north from Wards Bank. The expansion and encroachment of this spit into the inlet throat are believed to have initiated the reversal in migration direction. Analysis of aerial photographs indicates that in et migration occurs sporadically during severe storms.

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Copyright 1997 American Association of Petroleum Geologists