Stratigraphic Assessment of the Mineral Aggregate Resources in the St. Bernard Shoals, Offshore Louisiana.

摘要

This report describes the results of an assessment of sand resources of the St. Bernard Shoals, and it examines the Holocene geologic framework of the St. Bernard Shoals region on the Louisiana-Mississippi continental shelf. These shoals are located about 30 km southeast of the Chandeleur Islands, and lie in 14 to 26 m of water. About 1300 line-km of high resolution seismic profiles and side-scan sonographs acquired during 1982, 1987, and 1989 were interpreted and integrated with 20 vibracores collected during 1987 From analysis of this data, the distribution, configuration, geometry, and thickness of the St. Bernard Shoals were mapped, and the approximate sand volume contained within each shoal was calculated. The mineralogy and textural characteristics of subsamples obtained from key vibracores were also determined through visual examination and statistical grain size analyses.