WorldWide Drilling Resource

17 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® FEBRUARY 2016 Coral Reef Coring in the Florida Keys Adapted from Information Provided by the U.S. Geological Survey The Florida Keys Reef Tract (FKRT) is an invaluable natural resource made of coral reefs which protect the state’s shoreline by reducing wave energy; providing a critical habitat to associated marine life; and contributing roughly $3 billion to local economies annually. Over the last few decades, coral reefs throughout the world have faced decline due to various distur- bances. Unfortunately, the FKRT is no excep- tion to this trend, and researchers are working to gain insights into the future of Florida’s coral reefs by investigating how they responded to environmental changes in the past. Core samples from coral reef frameworks provide crucial records of reef development across millennial time- scales. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have been using under- water hydraulic core drilling to collect cores from reefs off the Florida Keys since the early 1970s. As a result, USGS - Saint Petersburg has an extensive archive of cores. The school is using these existing reef cores, along with new cores being collected, to better under- stand spatial and temporal trends in development. Core records are being used to reconstruct the species composition of reefs during the Holocene epoch to determine how modern reef assemblages compare to past assemblages. Holocene coral skeletons are also being analyzed to determine if coral growth rates have changed over time. Paleoecological data will be compared with records of net vertical reef growth over time to find out which ecological changes could have characterized changes in reef growth in the past. A better un- derstanding of reef changes in response to past environmental changes can help scientists make predictions about how Florida’s reefs might respond to changes in climate, water quality, and sea-level rise in the future. Reef core collected from Dry Tortugas National Park. Numbers indicate the depth of penetration into the reef in feet. The Vulcan ® Compact Mobile Thermal Desorption Unit is excellent for a variety of thermal desorption processes, including drilling mud and drill cuttings for reuse, remediation of contaminated soil, and cleanup of areas contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons. The feed system consists of a hopper, live bottom feeder, transfer auger, airlock, and feed auger. Its custom-built double-pipe heat exchanger offers increased surface area through the use of staggered rack con- struction. Heat is provided by either fossil fuel burners or electric ceramic plate heaters. Florida Keys National Marine Sancruary (FKNMS) boundary.