Commencing with seismic investigations in 1994 conducted under the Minerals Management Service (MMS)/North Carolina cooperative agreement 14-12-0001-30348, the geology and sand resources offshore of Dare County between Duck and Oregon Inlet were investigated. Several research cruises were undertaken. These resulted in the collection of approximately 400 nautical miles (nm) of shallow high-resolution (Uniboom®) seismic data, side scan sonar data, and 56 vibracores (up to 6m long) (see project map). The principle geophysical data set is along an orthogonal grid of lines aligned with the coastline at approximately 2 nautical mile (nm) spacing. Two diagonal lines were also run. Whereas the MMS mission principally addresses mineral resources of the nation’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a zone that generally extends from 3 to 200 nm offshore, this study was primarily conducted within OCS waters. By C.W. Hoffman and R.W. Brooks, 2001.
|