Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lake-Northern Forest CESU

The summary for the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lake-Northern Forest CESU grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Geological Survey, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lake-Northern Forest CESU: The U.S. Geological Survey, Office of the Eastern Regional Director is offering a grant to support the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The office supports science needs of other Department of the Interior (DOI) agencies as part of the "DOI Science on the Landscape Initiative". The project title is: "Determine origin and dynamics of coastal processes of Sand Point at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore."The Headquarters of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (PIRO) is housed in a historic former station of the U.S. Lifesaving Service on Sand Point along the southeastern shore of Lake Superior near Munising MI. The shoreline of Sand Point has fluctuated rather wildly since its occupation by the US Lifesaving Service (ca. 1937) and its successor, the US Coast Guard, and, subsequently, the National Park Service (NPS) in 1972. The early 1980s saw record high levels of Lake Superior and the rapid erosion and recession of the northern shore of Sand Point. Storm surge during the fall of 1985 caused partial flooding of the basement of the PIRO Headquarters. The following year the NPS emplaced a 300 meter long rock revetment directly north of the building to afford some protection for the building. Levels of Lake Superior receded after 1986 and washover events have not occurred since that time. Since 1990, three developments have altered the NPSs concepts of appropriate management of Sand Point: 1. Coastal sedimentologists have documented quasi-periodic, century-scale, cycles of lake level change on the order of several meters. These changes are predicated upon previously unrecognized climatic cycles and have influenced Sand Point and other coastal features for at least the past 4500 years; 2. While levels of Superior have declined since 1986, hot spots of continued erosion have developed along the shore of Sand Point despite, and very likely because of, the presence of the rock revetment which reflects wave energy to the lake, preventing longshore currents from depositing sand. Some wave energy is channeled to the distal end of the revetment where log spiral erosion is occurring. 3. Sedimentological work in 1990 at Au Train, 15 km to the west of Sand Point, suggests the possibility that Sand Point may have been nourished by longshore drift of sand eroded from the Pictured Rocks cliffs since the bedrock sill at Sault Ste. Marie emerged to separate Lake Superior from Lakes Huron and Michigan 1500 years ago. Recent research has clarified drivers of change in Sand Point but suggest that more information about the internal structure and history of Sand Point over the past 5,000 years is necessary to inform NPS coastal management. Given sufficient import of littoral sand, Great Lakes shorelines may actually prograde (grow) during a rise in lake level. A progradation of the southern shore of Lake Michigan occurred during the Nipissing Transgression as the result of massive erosion, transport and redeposition of unconsolidated coastal sediments. Growth of Sand Point may have resulted from increased erosion of the friable Miners Castle member of the Munising Formation during the post-1500 cal BP transgression. Is Sand Point a slowly eroding product of the peak of the Nipissing Transgression (6500 to 4500 cal BP), as has long been assumed, or has Sand Point been stable or slowing growing over the past 1500 years? Is the Point a composite of both the Nipissing and post-1500 cal BP transgressions? The quasi-periodic behavior of the water plane was not known in the early 1980s when the revetment along the northern edge of Sand Point was emplaced. If the post-1500 cal BP transgression of Lake Superior has, on the whole, nourished sedimentary features along the shore instead of eroding them, the prognosis for shore retreat at Sand Point over the next century may be placed in a new context. The broad objective is to better understand the Holocene history of Sand Point: its emplacement, partial erosion, and present status. The past is key to the present and, by extension, the future, especially involving earth processes. Interpretation of the data gathered during this project will be used by park management to understand the larger picture of the creation and sustenance of Sand Point and if, to what extend, and how frequently it has been inundated. This natural history of Sand Point will arm park managers who must make decisions about the protection of cultural assets and natural processes, both of which are called for in NPS 2006 Management Policies. The hypothesis that Sand Point represents a composite feature, emplaced during the peak of the Nipissing Transgression 6500-4500 cal BP, modified and eroded by wave action 4500-1500 cal BP, and augmented by sand nourishment from friable sandstone bedrock during the transgression of Lake Superior 1500 cal BP to the present, is expected to be tested using three primary means: 1. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). Initial GPR tests require a wide range of low frequency and high frequency antennae (50 MHz - 900 MHz) and 4-6 common midpoint (CMP) surveys to establish near surface velocity at various locations at Sand Point, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MI. Six (6) km of data, based on initial tests and CMP surveys, are required. Investigator must submit plotted (hard copy) results, as well as oral and written interpretation of the datasets.2. The age of three ponds present on Sand Point constrain the age of Sand Point itself. Sedimentary cores from these ponds are required using a monopod vibracorer operated from ice surfaces. The sedimentary structure of each core will be described and 10 small sub-samples of organic matter will be radiocarbon dated. Ten samples of buried sand will dated with optically stimulated luminescense (OSL) techniques. 3. Existing aerial photographs and other remote sensing will be used to assist interpretation of data obtained in #1 and #2 above.A final report on the project will include all raw data in tabular and/or graphic form (OSL and radiocarbon dates; GPR profile printouts; vibracore cross-section diagrams) and an interpretation of data with regard to the stated hypotheses. A discussion will outline a range of possible management actions that reflect upon findings. Results will be presented at the Western Great Lakes Research Conference and a Geological Society of America meeting. A paper will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.