SAND RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN LAKE ERIE, CONNEAUT TO 

 TOLEDO, OHIO - A SEISMIC REFLECTION AND VIBRACORE STUDY 



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S. Jeffress Williams, Charles H. Carter, 



Edward P. Meisburger, and Jonathan A. Fuller 



I. INTRODUCTION 



1. Background and Scope . 



The construction, improvement, and periodic maintenance of beaches and dunes 

 by placement of suitable sand along the shoreline is an effective means of coun- 

 teracting coastal erosion and of enhancing coastal recreational facilities. In 

 recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to obtain large volumes of 

 suitable sand from bays and inland sources because of diminishing resources as 

 well as economic and ecological factors. Accordingly, the Coastal Engineering 

 Research Center (CERC) initiated an Inner Continental Shelf Sediment and Struc- 

 ture (ICONS) study to locate offshore sand resources suitable for beach fill 

 (Duane, 1968). This report, the second ICONS study on the Great Lakes (the first 

 was in southeastern Lake Michigan; Meisburger, Williams, and Prins, 1979), deals 

 with offshore sand deposits along the Ohio shore of southern Lake Erie, mapped 

 from seismic reflection profiles between Conneaut and Toledo and from vibracores 

 taken between Conneaut and Marblehead. It differs from previous ICONS studies 

 in that it was conducted in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Natural 

 Resources, Division of Geological Survey (ODGS) . The subbottom geology of this 

 area is covered in a complementary report by Carter, et al. (in preparation, 

 1980). The Pennsylvania shore of Lake Erie, particularly the Presque Isle 

 region near Erie, is discussed in another report (Williams and Meisburger, in 

 preparation, 1980). 



The study area encompasses a zone ranging from 1 to 16 kilometers offshore 

 between Conneaut and Toledo (Fig. 1). Survey coverage of the area is shown in 



Sondusky 



OHIO 



Figure 1. Lake Erie study area. Seismic reflection tracklines and core locations 

 from Conneaut to Toledo, Ohio, are shown in Figures 2 to 8. 



