The Coastal Geology
of
Rip Kirby

Home Page
Buried Structure
Sand Dune Fencing
SE GSA - Ivan Impact
Anclote River Vibracore Pix
Anclote River Vibracore Movies
NWF Field Trip Pix: 11-13 Nov 05
Jennings Cave - Sediment Cores

Welcome

RipRocks.net is dedicated to all things coastal, especially my own research. This is the personal web site of Rip Kirby, graduate student and teaching assistant at the USF Department of Geology. If you have a link, a conference, or idea you would like to publicize, please send it along. I will be happy to help with the publicity.

Currently, my research is conducted as part of my graduate studies program at the University of South Florida. Specifically, I work in the Coastal Research Laboratory run by Dr. Ping Wang, the CRL Director.

Because of the increased number of large storms that have rolled through the Gulf of Mexico since August 2004,
my research is focused on the NW Florida panhandle. Stretching from St George Island to the Florida-Alabama border, the regional focus of my research area centers on post-storm event recovery of the barrier islands and coastal shoreline.

In April 2010, a disaster of epic proportions brought toxic crude oil treated with dispersant to the shores of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Since that accident occurred, my coastal research has been focused on cleaning up the coastline and documenting the damage done by the weathered crude oil left behind by the clean up effort. Despite claims that the coast is clear of toxic tar balls, the evidence suggests otherwise. Click HERE to see the latest video of tar product contamination at Gulf Shores, AL on July 17, 2012

What's New

The first paper was accepted for publishing by the Journal of Coastal Research in December 2004. It was titled Morphological and Sedimentological Impacts of Hurricane Ivan and Immediate Post-storm Beach Recovery along the Northwestern Florida Barrier-island Coasts and discussed the 90 day recovery period following Hurricane Ivan. The final revision was completed in May 2005 and the paper should appear in the next publication cycle. There will be at least two follow-on papers that expand on the original paper and discuss the mechanisms for the longshore erosion phenomenon documented in the JCR paper and the shoreline geomorphology that contributed to higher than normal damage from smaller storms in the post-Ivan period. Links to these papers will be available on this site.

Barrier Island Geomorphology

Santa Rosa Island (SRI) in NW Florida is one of the longest barrier islands in the United States. It stretches from the East Pass at Destin, Florida to the entrance to Escambia Bay at Pensacola. Several of the study sites for research conducted by the Coastal Research Lab are located on SRI. A presentation on the impact of Hurricane Ivan on the morphology of the NWF panhandle coast was given at the February 2005 SE GSA conference held in Biloxi, MS. Click HERE to review this presentation.

Coastal Protection

The NW Florida panhandle coastline is in transgression. Erosion from multiple storm events including Hurricanes Ivan, Frances, and Jeanne in the 2004 season along with Tropical Storms Arlene and Cindy and Hurricane Dennis in the 2005 season have created a coastline that is deemed critically eroded by the FEMA and the State of Florida. As such, emergency measures to protect this vulnerable coastline are in progress. However, as this is being written, Hurricane Katrina is growing in size and intensity in the Gulf of Mexico. Erosive wave action from this large storm will impact the panhandle even if Katrina makes landfall in Lousiana or Mississippi.

One option for protecting this severely eroded coastline is the concept of buried structure. A short information paper on this concept is being developed by the Coastal Research Laboratory. The current version is available for
download as a PDF file. As this work-in-progress is updated, the latest version will be placed online.

Home Page| Buried Structure | Sand Dune Fencing | SE GSA -Ivan Presentation

jkirby@mail.usf.edu
Date Last Modified: 11/14/05
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