2 Sources of Existing Coastal 

 Information 



Literature Sources 



Information pertinent to the geologic and geomorphic history of coasts can 

 be obtained and/or interpreted from libraries, universities, and Federal, state, 

 and local government agencies (Fulton 1981). The following provides details 

 on some of these sources: 



a. University and college departments and libraries. In many instances, 

 the collections of books, periodicals, dissertations, theses, and univers- 

 ity faculty research project reports contain data. This especially 

 occurs when the institutions are in coastal areas, where research is 

 funded by Federal or state government agencies (i.e. Sea Grant), 

 where the university has graduate programs and faculty active in 

 research in appropriate fields, and at universities where one or more 

 members of the faculty are coastal specialists. Major universities also 

 have government documents repositories where Federal and state 

 government publications are housed. 



b. Local sources. These are often overlooked, but can provide detailed 

 and sometimes unique data pertinent to the locale. Such sources 

 include the local newspaper, courthouse records, historical diaries, 

 lighthouse records, local journals, engineering contract records, land 

 transactions, and museums. 



c. Government agencies. Geologic coastal data may be available from 

 government agencies at the Federal, state, and local level 

 (Appendices C and D). Federal agencies with data archives include 

 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey (USCGS), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric 

 Agency (NOAA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), 

 (including the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station 

 (WES), the Coastal Engineering Research Center (CERC), and 

 USACE District and Division offices), the U.S. Department of 



Chapter 2 Secondary Sources of Coastal Information 



