Transportation (DOT), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Naval Research Laboratory 

 (NRL). At the state level, agencies with relevant coastal information 

 include the state geological surveys (or bureaus of geology), 

 departments of transportation, departments of environmental resources 

 and/or water resources, and state planning departments. 



d. Industry. Energy (oil and gas) companies often keep records, which 

 may be accessible to scientists, of coastal processes in conjunction 

 with their offshore drilling operations. Construction companies have 

 records in files on their construction projects. Environmental and 

 engineering firms may also have data from projects that were per- 

 formed for government. Some of these data are in the public domain. 

 Environmental impact reports from nuclear power plants built in 

 coastal areas contain extensive coastal process and geologic data. 



e. Journals. Most large university libraries have holdings of national 

 and international scientific journals. Most of the scientific literature 

 associated with the geologic history of coasts will be in the realm of 

 geology, oceanography, marine science, physical geography, atmo- 

 spheric science, earth science, and polar studies. Most research 

 studies will be in the specific fields of coastal sedimentology, coastal 

 geomorphology, and marine geology. A listing of pertinent journals is 

 given in Appendix E. 



/ Conference Proceedings. Most large national and international confer- 

 ences produce proceedings of papers presented at symposia. The 

 conference proceedings can be obtained from university libraries. 

 Proceedings, abstracts, etc. are also published by scientific 

 organizations. These publications may also include announcements of 

 symposia, grants awarded, and other announcements that may lead to 

 environmental and geologic information. 



g. Computerized Literature Searches. Most major university and govern- 

 ment agency libraries have access to computerized literature databases. 

 The databases contain information that may be acquired by key terms, 

 subjects, titles, and author names. Computer-operator assistance may 

 be needed because access to the system and an understanding of its 

 nuances are critical to a successful search. A clear and complete list 

 of key words is important to the computer operator. It is also 

 necessary to link terms to avoid getting extraneous/erroneous listings 

 of information sources. 



10 



Chapter 2 Secondary Sources of Coastal Information 



