Paleolandscapes and the ca. 8,000 BP Shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf

Background Information

The essays below will help you to understand the goals and objectives of the mission and provide additional context and information about the places being explored and the science, tools, and technologies being used.

  • Mission Plan

    By Amanda Evans

    A split core, recovered in 2010, shows the transition from modern marine sediment (top right), through the Pleistocene clay (lower left).

    This project is starting from a handful of puzzle pieces that tell us people were living along the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and coastal Texas and Louisiana as early as 13,000 years ago. Our objective is to add more information to this overwhelming puzzle.

    Read more
  • Previous Projects and Site Selection

    By Amanda Evans

    Map of broad valley with previously unknown valley system mapped from previous exploration.

    For this project, we started with two locations that were previously identified through archaeological mapping and exploration projects. Both were from the same water depth (about 50 feet), and both dated to about the same time period, 8,500 BP or about 10,500 years ago.

    Read more
  • Remote Sensing

    By Amanda Evans

    A shipwreck in 80 feet of water in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico was imaged using side-scan sonar (left); photographs taken by divers of the same wreck were obscured by lack of light and sediment in the water column (right).

    How do you look for something that doesn’t want to be found? Since the river valleys and channels aren’t visible to the naked eye, we use different remote-sensing tools to image them.

    Read more
  • The Use of Sub-bottom Profilers in the Hunt for Submerged Landscapes

    By Megan Metcalfe

    Evans (left) and Metcalfe (right) monitor acquisition of the parametric sonar data onboard the R/V Nikola.

    When looking for submerged landscapes below the seafloor, the main geophysical tool we use is a sub-bottom profiler. It can also show where there is a major change in angle and character of deposits, such as the cut of an ancient river channel, which has been filled by mud and sands.

    Read more