Geophysical logs provide invaluable information about the water and rocks encountered during the drilling of a well. The tools used to collect geophysical borehole data are increasingly sophisticated and require expertise in running the instruments and interpreting the data. Since the interpretation of the geophysical data is important to geologists, the FGS invited recently retired U.S. Geological Survey geologist Ron Reese to conduct a two-day training course on the methodologies and techniques used to interpret geophysical logs. Mr. Reese spent most of his career as a geologist in South Florida utilizing geophysical and borehole data to interpret subsurface geology. Twenty-nine people from FGS, members of other Florida DEP program areas and Water Management Districts attended the course held June 12-13, 2014.

Thursday morning activities consisted of classroom lectures geared towards understanding the principles behind the different geophysical logging tools and their usefulness. Some topics included the introduction and overview of natural gamma ray, spontaneous potential, resistivity, porosity and nuclear logs. The afternoon session included an overview of borehole fluid and velocity tools, caliper, temperature, optical borehole imagery and the applications of each of these log types. The day ended with a discussion of how each type of geophysical log can help geologists correlate similar log parameters between wells.

Friday�s class was spent looking at core samples laid out next to the geophysical logs for the borehole. This provided a unique opportunity to view the lithologic components of the core while comparing the geophysical log response of the same interval. For instance, the occurrence of phosphate in a core usually generates a �kick� on a gamma log. Stratigraphic unconformities between Florida�s subsurface geologic units can sometimes exhibit a substantial response on a gamma log. Correlating these intervals between boreholes allows geologists to estimate the thickness of strata, among other things, which is important in understanding the geologic history of our state.

Contact person/info: Harley Means �

FGS has completed geomorphic and geologic mapping in and around four National Park Service (NPS) units in northeastern Florida. The NPS-funded project included an assessment of the geological resources in and adjacent to Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and the Fort Caroline National Memorial in Duval and Nassau counties, as well as Fort Matanzas National Monument and Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Johns and Flagler counties. Understanding the geomorphology component is important for these NPS lands due to their proximity to marine environments susceptible to sea-level rise, storm surge, ever-changing inlet dynamics and other coastal hazards.

The study area included 12 USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles: Italia, Hedges, Amelia City, Eastport, Mayport, Arlington, Jacksonville Beach, Saint Augustine, Saint Augustine Beach, Saint Augustine Beach OE E, Dinner Island NE and Matanzas Inlet. Aerial imagery, LiDAR and ground-truthing reconnaissance were the primary research tools used to accomplish the geomorphology work. Detailed coastal geomorphology with 45 different polygon and line types were mapped as well as the surficial geology.

The final product also included five cross-sections. Five new cores were collected and 102 new lithologic descriptions of cores and cuttings were added to the database for the FGS Repository collection. This data, along with field reconnaissance, was the backbone of the geological research. Adjacent Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) managed lands were also included in the final product such that selected coastal areas are continuously mapped from northern Flagler County to the Florida-Georgia state line. The twelve quadrangles have been digitally delivered to the NPS.� A geodatabase for the entire study area, including both NPS and FDEP managed lands, will be published as FGS Open File Report 103.

David Anderson �Andy� Smith, a former geologist with the FGS, passed away on June 29, 2014. Andy was born December 27, 1952 to William J. "Red" Smith and Rosemary J. Smith-Roe. He graduated with a BS in geology from Florida State University in 1978, and a MS in geology from the University of South Florida in 1981. Andy worked as a licensed professional geologist in Florida since 1989, and was a member of the Association of Groundwater Scientists and Engineers.

Andy first worked for the FGS as a student research assistant during 1976-1978 while attending FSU, assisting with a statewide phosphate mine inventory and mapping project. Over his subsequent career, he worked principally as a hydrologist in a variety of positions. During graduate school Andy developed hydrologic data for use in regional groundwater flow models of west-central Florida while working for the Water Sources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey in Tampa. He later spent five years as an associate research scientist with the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas in Austin, where he was responsible for evaluating deep groundwater flow beneath prospective radioactive waste disposal sites. After a brief stint at a consulting firm, Andy joined the Southwest Florida Management District (SWFWMD) in Brooksville in 1987. He spent the next 11 years of his career at the SWFWMD, first developing legally defendable sustainability limits for local groundwater withdrawals and later supervising a team of engineers and geologists evaluating the limits of groundwater resources in west-central Florida. In 1998 Andy left the SWFWMD and started his own hydrogeology consulting firm while also serving on the faculty of Saint Leo University, positions he held until returning to work at the FGS.

Andy was hired at the FGS in May 2010 as a professional geologist. In this new role he utilized his considerable geophysical expertise in various ground-penetrating radar (GPR) studies and was instrumental in rebuilding the Survey�s borehole logging capabilities. Among his more notable FGS projects were experimenting with methodology to use GPR to identify buried crude oil layers on state beaches after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, subsurface sinkhole reconnaissance in the wake of Tropical Storm Debbie, and assisting with efforts to locate the body of worker trapped in a sinkhole collapse in a quarry in central Florida. Other efforts encompassed a variety of inter-and intra-agency projects, including GPR surveys in Wakulla Springs State Park and at Merritt�s Mill Pond in Jackson County, where he attempted to locate subterranean pathways contributing to arsenic contamination of groundwater. Perhaps most remarkable were his almost daily lunchtime bicycle rides. As an avid cyclist, he would travel 30 miles each day, and also enjoyed participating in national long-distance biking events.

Andy was always ready to assist with FGS educational events, and provided presentations and demonstrations of the GPR equipment during Earth Science Week activities at the Survey. During his all-too-short tenure at FGS, Andy spearheaded two grant projects studying geothermal energy and carbon sequestration potential statewide. In 2012 he received both a Tropical Storm Debbie Team Extra Effort Award and the prestigious Individual Extra Effort Award from his FGS colleagues for his outstanding work on these and other projects. As his award nomination stated, �Andy�s track record of successful results, complemented by his consistent �can-do� attitude, team spirit and willingness to put in the extra time and energy to do things right make him an outstanding FGS employee and a prime award candidate�. His draft report on carbon sequestration potential in deep Florida stratigraphic units will be published posthumously by the FGS. Andy retired from the FGS in January 2014 and returned to the Tampa area.

Andy is survived by his wife, Cheryl Stimac, and a large immediate family including two sons and a stepson, four brothers, numerous nieces and nephews, a stepfather and stepsister, and a mother- and father-in-law. He is remembered by FGS staff not only for his professionalism, expertise and attitude, but as a genuinely kind, good-natured and honest friend.