Multibeam Mapping of the West Florida Shelf, Gulf of Mexico
Abstract
A zone of deep-water reefs is thought to extend from the mid and outer shelf south of Mississippi and Alabama to at least the northwestern Florida shelf off Panama City, Florida (Figure 1). The reefs off Mississippi and Alabama are found in water depths of 60 to 120 m (Ludwick and Walton, 1957; Gardner et al., 2001, in press) and were the focus of a multibeam echosounder (MBES) mapping survey by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2000 (Gardner et al., 2000, Gardner et al., 2001, in press). If this deep-water-reef trend does exist along the northwestern Florida shelf, then it is critical to determine the accurate geomorphology and reef type that occur because of their importance as benthic habitats for fisheries.
Department
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping
Publication Date
2002
Publisher
U.S. Geological Survey
Document Type
Report
Recommended Citation
Gardner, James V.; Dartnell, Peter; and Sulak, Kenneth J., "Multibeam Mapping of the West Florida Shelf, Gulf of Mexico" (2002). Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. 1171.
https://scholars.unh.edu/ccom/1171