ALBERT

Description: During U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public hearings held in 1973, 1974 and 1975 prior to Texas Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas lease sales, concern was expressed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, scientists from Texas A&M and the University of Texas and private citizens over the possible environmental impact of oil and gas drilling and production operations on coral reefs and fishing banks in or adjacent to lease blocks to be sold. As a result, certain restrictive regulations concerning drilling operations in the vicinity of the well documented coral reefs and biostromal communities at the East and West Flower Gardens were established by BLM, and Signal Oil Company was required to provide a biological and geological baseline study of the less well known Stetson Bank before a drilling permit could be issued. Considering the almost total lack of knowledge of the geology and biotic communities associated with the South Texas OCS banks lying in or near lease blocks to be offered for sale in 1975, BLM contracted with Texas A&M University to provide the biological and geological baseline information required to facilitate judgments as to the extent and nature of restrictive regulations on drilling near these banks which might be required to insure their protection. In pursuit of this, scientists from Texas A&M University were to direct their attention toward assessments of ground fish populations, unique biological and geological features, substratum type and distribution, and the biotic and geologic relationships between these banks and those farther north.

Description: The Mississippi Fan is a broad, arcuate accumulation of Pleistocene deep-water sediments deposited in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Major objectives for drilling the Mississippi Fan were to place the fan lobes into a time-stratigraphic framework, to determine if the midfan channel is migratory in nature, to establish the lithological characteristics of the acoustical high-amplitude zone present near the bottom of the channel fill, to analyze if sand is transported to the lower fan and in which depositional mode it is emplaced, to confirm or modify existing fan models, and to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of these deep-sea fan deposits. In addition to the nine sites situated on the Mississippi fan, two sites (618 and 619) were occupied on the continental slope off Louisiana in intraslope basins formed as the result of active salt diapirism.

Description: A German coring device (Reineck, 1958) has been improved to obtain oriented, undisturbed cores at any depth of water. The samples are rectangular in shape, 8 × 12 inches in plan and a maximum of 18 inches high. Good cores have been obtained from clayey material as well as from gravelly sand. No disturbances due to coring were observed on the collected samples. These large samples make it possible to conduct many varieties of investigations, such as study of living organisms and shear strength measurements, as soon as the sample is on deck of a ship; radiography on slices, peeling and impregnation techniques, granulometry, mineralogy, porosity, fossil content, etc. Construction and use of the box corer and applications of some of these analytical techniques are described.