ecological characterization atlas of coastal alabama

207 Pages·2004·9.73 MB·English

FWS/OBS-82/46 MMS 84-0052
August 1984
Ecological Characterization Atlas of Coastal
Alabama: Map Narrative
Y
~
- r
Fish and Wildlife Service Minerals Management Service
D. ~ U.S. Department of the Interior
FWS/OBS- 82/46
MMS 84-0052
August 1984
ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION ATLAS OF COASTAL
ALABAMA : MAP NARRATIVE
by
Marvin F. Smith Jr ., Editor
Soils Systems, Inc .
525 Webb Industrial Drive
Marietta, Georgia 30062
Project Officers
James B . Johnston
National Coastal Ecosystems Team
U.S . Fish and Wildlife Service
NASA/Slidell Computer Complex
1010 Gause Boulevard
Slidell, Louisiana 70458
and
Lawrence Handley
Gulf of Mexico OCS Region
Minerals Management Service
P.O. Box 7944
Metairie, Louisiana 70010
This study was co-sponsored by the
Minerals Management Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Performed for
National Coastal Ecosystems Team
Division of Biolociical Services
Research and Development
Fish and Wildlife Service
U .S . Department of' the Interior
Washington, D .C . 20240
Library of Congress Card No. 85-600548
This atlas should be referenced as follows :
Smith, M. F. Jr ., ed . 1984 . Ecological characterization atlas of coastal
Alabama : map narrative . U.S . Fish Wildl . Serv . FWS/OBS-82/46 ; Minerals
Manage. Serv . MMS 84-0052 . 189 pp . + 30 maps .
PREFACE
The purpose of the Alabama coastal ecological characterization atlas
study is to provide information concerning the biological, physical, and
social conditions in coastal Alabama, specifically, Mobile and Baldwin
Counties, Alabama . The atlas consists of composite overlay topic information
provided on 1 :100,000-scale base maps . There are six base maps with five
mai n subj ect maps, maki ng a total of thi rty maps . A narrati ve accompan.yi ng
the maps discusses the mapped topics . This study is one of a series of
characterizations of coastal ecosystems produced by the U .S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to provide coastal planning and management personnel with
information relative to coastal ecology .
Information on endangered and threatened species in the Biological
Resources section has been updated to reflect their Federal status as of June
1985.
This project was conducted under Contract FWS 14-16-0009-81-062 .
Funding was provided by the Bureau of Land Management (Minerals Management
Service) and the U.S . Fish and Wildlife Service .
Any questi ons regardi ng thi s publ i cati on sho ul d be di rected to :
Information Transfer Specialist
National Coastal Ecosystems Team
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
NASA-Slidell Computer Complex
1010 Gause Boulevard
Slidell, Louisiana 70458
i i i
SUMMARY
The southwest Alabama coastal region is the study area of this narrative
and accompanying maps . The offshore area includes the region from the State-
Federal demarcation to the shoreline, and the inland area includes Mobile and
Baldwin Counties .
These counties are included in the following six U .S. Geological Survey
1 :100,000-scale topographic maps :
Citronelle Bay Minette
Atmore Biloxi
Mobile Pensacola
The data in this atlas meet all cartographic and narrative specifications
of the Minerals Management Service and the U .S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
should be useful for coastal decisionmakers .
The topics included within this map narrative are biological resources ;
socioeconomic features ; soils and landforms ; oil, gas, and mineral resources ;
and hydrology and climatology.
iv
CONVERSION TABLE
Metric to U .S . Customary
Multiply By To Obtain
millimeters (mm) 0.03937 inches
centimeters (cm) 0.3937 inches
meters (m) 3.281 feet
ki l omete rs ( km ) 0.6214 mi l es
square meters (m2) 2 10.76 square feet
square kilometers (km ) 0.3861 square miles
hectares (ha) 2.471 acres
liters (1) 0.2642 gallons
cubic meters (m3) 35.31 cubic feet
cubic meters 0.0008110 acre-feet
milligrams (mg) 0.00003527 ounces
grams (g) 0.03527 ounces
kilograms (kg) 2.205 pounds
metric tons (t) 2205.0 pounds
metric tons 1.102 short tons
kilocalories (kcal) 3.968 British thermal units
Celsius degrees 1.8(°C) + 32 Fahrenheit degrees
U .S . Customary to Metric
inches 25.40 millimeters
inches 2.54 centimeters
feet (f t) 0.3048 meters
fathoms 1.829 meters
miles (mi) 1.609 kilometers
nautical miles (rmi) 1 .852 kilometers
square feet (ft2) 0.0929 square meters
acres 2 0.4047 hectares
square miles (mi ) 2.590 square kilometers
gallons (gal) 3.785 liters
cubic feet (ft3) 0.02831 cubic meters
acre-feet 1233.0 cubic meters
ounces (oz) 28.35 grams
pounds (lb) 0.4536 ki l og rams
short tons (ton) 0 .9072 metric tons
British thermal units (Btu) 0.2520 kilocalories
Fahrenheit degrees 0.5556(°F - 32) Celsius degrees
v
CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i i i
SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * iv
CONVERSION TABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
TABLE S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
STUDY AREA MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . • . • . . • • • . • • • • • . . . . . . xv
B IOLOGICAL RESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
I NTRODUCT I ON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
WETLAND HAB ITATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
BIRD RESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Seabirds and Wading Birds in Coastal 'Alabama . . . . . . . . . 3
ore i r s i n oasta a ama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
ater ow Concentration Areas in Coastal Alabama . . . . . . . 7
SEA T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
GRASS BEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
SHELLF ISH HARVEST AREAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Shri mp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
STU--EC-rabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Oyster eefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
FINFIS ALABAMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
F1 ori da Pompano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
aceres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Gulf MenTiaden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
out ern ounder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
roaer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
rota uper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
na~ ppers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
l~Tu T e t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
e rum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ardi-nes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ea~t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ENDANGERI6-W THREATENED SPEC IES OF
MOBILE AND BALDWIN COUNTIES, ALABAMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Mammal s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
il3'rds: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
eRpti 1 es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
vi
Page
Amphi bi ans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
res wa er Fi shes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
ants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
REFERENM -. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
SOURCES OF MAPPED INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
SOC IOECONOM ICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
I NTRODUCT I ON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
LAND USE AND LAND COVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
MARINE AND ESTUARINE SANCTUARIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
STATE PARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
STATE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
NATIONAL NATURAL LANDMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY SANCTUARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
INTENSIVELY USED RECREATIONAL BEACHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
CHARTER BOAT AND HEAD BOAT SERVICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
PERMITTED ARTIFICIAL FISHING REEFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
PUBLIC FISHING PIERS, PUBLIC ACCESS AREAS AND MARINAS . . . . . . . . 52
BARRIER ISLANDS AND SPITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
POINT SOURCE DISCHARGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS AND ONSHORE DISPOSAL SITES . . . . . . . . . . 56
MAN-MADE LAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
NAVI GATION CHANNELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
DREDGE SPOIL DISPOSAL AREAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
OFFSHORE OBSTRUCTIONS AND STRUCTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
SOURCES OF MAPPED INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
SOILS AND LANDFORMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
I NTRODUCTI ON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
REGIONAL SOILS AND LANDFORMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
EROSION AND ACCRETION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
GEOLOGIC FAULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
ACT I VE DUNES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
SOURCES OF MAPPED INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
OIL, GAS, AND MINERALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
I NTRODU.CT I ON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
0I L AND GAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
CLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
SAND AND GRAVEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
SOURCES OF MAPPED INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
vii
Page
CL IMATOLOGY AND HYDROLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
I NTRODUCT I ON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
CL IMATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Cloud over, o , and Relative Humidit . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
xE tratropi cal Cycl ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
ropica yc ones an urricanes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
U .S. G S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
STREAM AND RIVER DISCHARGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
SURFACE WATER QUALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Water Qual i ty Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
o i e i ver asi n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Mobile ay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
er i o i ver Basi n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Escatawpa Ri ver Basi n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
oas a rai nages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
GROUND WATER AVAI LAB I L ITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
GROUND WATER QUALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
CURRENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Peri do Bay . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . • • • • . . . 173
o i e Bay and Mi ssi ssi ppi Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
SALINI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • • • . . 181
SOURCES OF MAPPED INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
viii
FIGURES
Number Page
BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES
1 Distribution of wading bird nesting colonies in coastal
Al abama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Comparison of submerged aquatic vegetation along lower
Mobi l e Del ta i n 1957 and 1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 Total landings of shrimp in Alabama since 1950 . . . . . . . . 12
4 Total landings of blue crab in Alabama since 1950 . . . . . . 12
5 Total landings of oysters in Alabama since 1950 . . . . . . . 15
6 Finfish and shellfish of coastal Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . 17
SOILS AND LANDFORMS
7 Erosion areas in coastal Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
8 Historic trends in shoreline changes, Alabama coastal area,
1917-74 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
OIL, GAS, AND MINERALS
9 Generalized stratigraphic column in oil- and gas-producinq
areas in southwest Al abama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
10 Oil, condensate, and gas production in southwest Alabama
1944-80 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
11 Sand, gravel, and clay production in Baldwin and Mobile
Counti es , 1969-75 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
CLIMATOLOGY AND HYDROLOGY
12 Paths of hurricanes affecting Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
13 Monthly frequency of hurricanes affecting Alabama since 1711 . 135
ix