what's a good place in the florida keys for a geology student to do some research?

Answer 1

It depends upon what your primary interest is within the fairly broad field of geology. If you're interested in hydrogeology the Floridan aquifer system would make an interesting topic of study.

An excerpt from http://capp.water.usgs.gov/gwa/ch_g/G-text6.html explains why it's particularly important in the Keys:

The Floridan is a multiple-use aquifer system. Where it contains freshwater, it is the principal source of water supply. In several places where the aquifer contains saltwater, such as along the southeastern coast of Florida, treated sewage and industrial wastes are injected into it. Near Orlando, Fla., drainage wells are used to divert surface runoff into the Floridan. South of Lake Okeechobee in Florida, the aquifer contains saltwater. Some of this saltwater is withdrawn for cooling purposes and some is withdrawn and converted to freshwater by desalinization plants. Desalinization is especially important in the Florida Keys, which have no other source of freshwater except that which is imported by pipeline.

If you're interested in carbonate or marine geology the Keys would be an excellent place to do research and Key Largo would be a good starting point.

From http://www.florida-keys.fl.us/geology.htm :
The Florida Keys lie on a thick layer of limestone. The rock is covered by an ancient coral reef. In the lower islands, the porous Miami oolite, with its rich vegetation, appears once again. Low-lying islands with slight variations in elevation, the Keys boast a high point of 18 feet, on Windley Key. For the most part, however, they are very flat. There are over 800 islands large enough to appear on government charts, though many other tiny mangrove islets exist and are still aborning. About 30 of the Keys are inhabited.

To the east of the Florida Keys lies the only living coral reef in the continental United States. It is located between four and seven miles offshore, running parallel to the Keys from Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas.

And from http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/florida/title.html :
USGS scientists recently drilled numerous cores on the Keys and in the coral reef tract to study how geology controlled movement of well water.

This study completed 21 holes ranging in depth from 8 feet to 65 feet on 3 transects, averaging 7 wells each. The project was designed to allow any flow of nutrient-rich water to be tracked from areas of the disposal wells to the offshore reefs. This USGS research is supported in part by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Technical cooperation is also provided by Harold Hudson and Billy Causey at the Marine Sanctuary Program, Key Largo, and by Dr. Steven Miller and his colleagues at the National Undersea Research Center, all of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
USGS geologic cross sections indicate that water from disposal wells could significantly impact specific areas of the Florida reefs.

Most of the bedrock underlying the Keys is highly porous limestone, the remains of ancient reefs through which contaminated waters can easily flow. Much of the disposal water, however, is released at a depth below a relatively impermeable layer known as the Q3 unconformity. Contaminated water does not readily penetrate this layer. In those areas where the Q3 layer is absent, or poorly developed, an equally impermeable layer of lime mud can trap ground water below and allow it to migrate laterally. Leakage is more likely where this mud is absent. Preliminary results of USGS studies indicate that ground waters beneath the reefs do contain nutrients, principally ammonia, at levels many times higher than that of normal seawater. Tidal pumping can allow these nutrient-rich ground waters to seep into the water columns, especially in areas where a mud layer is absent. In a sense, the rocks ³breathe² water with each change of the tide.

Case Study: Interplay of Carbonate Islands, Coral Reefs, and Sea Level is also an interesting paper. You can access it at
http://sflwww.er.usgs.gov/publications/papers/keys_geohydro/casestudy.html

Hope this helps...good luck! Carbonate geology is an interesting area. If you get tired of the Keys try the Bahamas! There's a field station on San Salvadore island where several schools and companies run carbonate geology field classes. It's awesome!

Answer 2

Here's an article that discusses the basic framework of the keys--and something here might be interesting to you: such as--the modern reef, the ancient reef exposed on land, the oolites, drowned forests, erosion, sea level change.
The Upper and Middle Keys are of Key Largo Limestone (coral).The Lower Keys was a huge shallow sandy and oolite shoal.the Northern keyes have sedimentary (clastic)deposits.

http://www.keyshistory.org/keysgeology.html