Multibeam mapping of the Pinnacles region, Gulf of Mexico

James V. Gardner; Peter Dartnell; Kenneth J. Sulak

doi:10.3133/ofr026

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Multibeam mapping of the Pinnacles region, Gulf of Mexico

James V. Gardner·Peter Dartnell·Kenneth J. Sulak

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Abstract

Recent USGS mapping shows an extensive deep (~100 m) reef tract occurs on the Mississippi-Alabama outer continental shelf (Figure 1). The tract, known as "The Pinnacles", is apparently part of a sequence of drowned reef complexes along the "40-fathom" shelf edge of the northern Gulf of Mexico (Ludwick and Walton, 1957). It is critical to determine the accurate geomorphology of these deep-reefs because of their importance as benthic habitats for fisheries. The Pinnacles have previously been mapped using a single-beam echo sounder (Ludwick and Walton,1957), sidescan sonar (Laswell et al., 1990), and the TAMU 2 towed single-beam sidescan-sonar system (Anonymous, 1999). These existing studies do not provide the quality of geomorphic data necessary for reasonable habitat studies.

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Source-reported bounding extent: 27.975° to 31.513° latitude; -90.4944° to -85.957° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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James V. Gardner, Peter Dartnell, Kenneth J. Sulak. 2002. Multibeam mapping of the Pinnacles region, Gulf of Mexico. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr026

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