The sinkhole incident in late February launched interest at a Federal level regarding this particular geologic hazard. Thanks to planning coordination from the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), a briefing on sinkholes was held on April 15, 2013 before staff of the House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C. The briefing also received organizational support from Representative Steve Southerland from Florida’s Second District. Sponsors of the event included the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI), Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG), American Geosciences Institute (AGI), and the Association of American State Geologists (AASG).
 
Jon Arthur was among the speakers on the panel, representing Florida as State Geologist, as well as the AASG. Other speakers included David Weary and Dan Doctor (U.S. Geological Survey), Mike Knight (AEG), and Gannett Fleming, Inc. With assistance from Florida’s Executive Office of the Governor staff in Washington, D.C., Dr. Arthur also had the opportunity to meet with Senator Bill Nelson, who showed an interest in sinkholes and groundwater issues in the State of Florida.

Contaminated sites are areas in which hazardous substances occur at concentrations that are likely to pose an immediate or long-term hazard to human health or the environment. It is for this reason that the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) periodically issues Public Health Assessments to keep the general public informed.

At the request of FDOH, the FGS is providing a geological overview of up to ten of these sites per year, in the hopes of deconvoluting site specific data and interpretations submitted to DOH. These geological overviews are based on data that the FGS has in various data sets, and are incorporated into the Public Health Assessment for the site under review to provide a consistent geological framework. This helps place detailed technical reports in context.

At the Capitol Building in Tallahassee on April 19, the FGS participated in the celebration of Earth Day. Several DEP offices and more than 1,000 students, parents, teachers and community members also participated in various interactive displays tailored to the Department's 2013 Earth Day Event theme, Greening STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math): Taking Technology Outdoors. Frank Rupert and Traci Billingsley were present at the FGS booth, answering questions from students and educators, and sharing information and resources about the geology of Florida.

FGS’ involvement in Education and Outreach activities has certainly not been limited to Earth Day since the release of FGS News’ Winter Edition in February 2013. Assistant State Geologist Harley Means led a team from Florida State University (FSU) to see outcrops that will be part of a student’s thesis. He also led a field trip to Alum Bluff for a paleontology class from the University of South Florida.

University students’ opportunities to learn about the geology behind environmental protection are frequent, in part due to the FGS’ dedicated staff.  Director Jon Arthur, for example, gave presentations at FSU on "Hydrogeology of Florida" and "Geology and Land Use" in the Departments of Geosciences and Urban and Regional Planning.

In late February, 38 students from the FSU Environmental Science “capstone” class toured the FGS sample repository.  During the facility tour, students learned about applied geoscience related to drilling, geophysical applications and laboratory experiments in support of natural resource conservation and water resource protection.  Professional Geologists David Paul, Harley Means, Clint Kromhout, and Christopher Williams ran different “learning stations” that were set up at the facility. The tour and stations included a drill rig, borehole geophysical logging tools, ground penetrating radar, geologic sample processing, description and archiving, geochemistry lab, and a scanning electron microscope lab.

FGS Professional Geologist Dan Phelps aided an FSU geology class with preparation for a field trip to collect cores during the spring semester, and then shared his expertise by showing the students how to split the cores so that members of the class could analyze them. Of course, education provided by FGS geologists is not just limited to students. Harley Means recently visited St. Johns River and Suwannee River Water Management District staff members, as well as local citizens in Bradford County, in order to see one of the state’s most impressive cover-collapse sinkholes.  Mr. Means provided a geologic overview of the strata exposed in the sinkhole and led a discussion on the hydrology of the area.

In the wake of the tragic sinkhole event in Seffner Florida in early March, the FGS has also had numerous opportunities to educate the public on subsidence incidents (see “Seffner Sinkhole Incident” and “Congressional Briefing” articles). FGS staff never forgets its mission to provide objective, quality geologic information about Florida to the public.

FGS Receives ESRI^® and PCI Geomatics Natural Resources Imagery Grant

The Florida Geological Survey has recently been awarded a grant to perform enhanced geomorphic and geologic mapping in Northeast Florida. The grant provides ESRI® software, PCI Geomatics imaging tools, and approximately 1,000 square kilometers of recent satellite imagery of the study area (left). The grant complements a project, already in progress, to map a much larger area for the National Park Service along the northeast coast of Florida.  The study area is outlined on the map.

To date, the FGS has received imagery in the form of RapidEye multispectral images at five-meter resolution for the study area. This can be used to extract natural and manmade features by filtering the different wavelengths of light reflected from surfaces. RadarSat-2 imagery, which uses Synthetic Aperture Radar with multiple polarization modes, has three-meter resolution and should be helpful in extruding features or using a set of images of the same area over time to detect changes. The FGS envisages the RadarSat-2 imagery, paired with the image classification software, to have a role in future STATEMAP projects. This software also has potential to detect past subsidence events in previously unmapped areas.

Seffner Sinkhole Incident Prompts National Media Attention

On February 28, 2013, a tragedy occurred in Seffner, Florida that led to loss of a life. As with previous incidents involving sinkhole deaths (there have been four in Florida), the DEP/FGS was ready to respond, but certainly didn’t anticipate the worldwide media attention that arose from the event.

In the month and a half following the Seffner tragedy, five subsidence incidents were reported within two miles. Meanwhile, across the nation, other sinkholes occurred, including one in Waterloo, Illinois in which an individual on a golf course was swallowed and injured by a sinkhole.

The Florida DEP fielded more than 32 interviews in response to the Seffner incident, most of which were addressed by the FGS.  Florida State Geologist Jon Arthur was interviewed for a variety of live broadcasts, ranging from Fox News to New Zealand.

Compared to web traffic in the prior months, hits to the FGS website increased fourfold in the first few days of March, exceeding more than 750,000 hits within a week of the incident. The massive increase in media attention led to an opportunity for geosciences education at a national level (see “Congressional Briefing” article).

International interest continues, with Assistant State Geologist Harley Means being interviewed by film crews from Belgian Public Television and, more recently, Dr. Arthur appearing on the CBS Sunday Morning Show.  Interviews with BBC are currently in progress.

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