ABSTRACT

For the years 1955-1958, a team of geologists from Florida State University investigated the sediments along both sides of the shoreline of part of the coast of the Florida panhandle. These studies have extended as far as 10 miles seaward, where diving techniques were employed, and about an equal distance landward. The bulk of the data so obtained has been concerned with approximate chemical composition (quartz, carbonate, clay), grain size, roundness, heavy mineral content, microfaunal assemblage, ripple marks and related features, and variability of the shallow sea bottom. In the study area, sorting is excellent, quartz is dominant, the grain size increases from the shoreline toward the open gulf, heavy minerals are rare, ripple marks deteriorate more rapidly than had been expected, ripple marks generally trend parallel with the shore, and mild changes in bottom topography are important in the control of sedimentation. Although living organisms having hard parts are numerous, shell fragments are rare in much of the area and a lithified sandstone might well be essentially non-fossiliferous.