Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

Stored: Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary Type: Independent Agencies (Sub-organization) Parent organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Top organization: Department of Commerce Employees: Executive: Superintendent Budget: Address: 10 Ocean Science Circle, Savannah, GA 31411 (Note: This is the address for the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, where the sanctuary office is located) Website: https://graysreef.noaa.gov Creation Legislation: Wikipedia: Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

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Mission Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary protects a unique and diverse ecosystem of live bottom reefs off the Georgia coast, fostering scientific research, education, and conservation efforts to preserve this marine habitat for future generations.

Services Marine Research; Education; Recreational Diving; Conservation; Outreach Programs

Regulations 15 CFR Part 922 (National Marine Sanctuary Program Regulations)

Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary is one of the largest near-shore live-bottom reefs in the southeastern United States. The sanctuary, designated in January 1981, is located 19 miles (17 nmi; 31 km) off Sapelo Island, Georgia, and is part of the U.S. National Marine Sanctuary System.

Within the 22-square-mile (17 sq nmi; 57 km²) sanctuary, there are both rocky ledges and sandy flat places. The reef's rocky sandstone outcrops, submerged beneath 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 m) of water, can be as tall as 2 to 3 metres (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) and are highly complex. These nooks and crannies provide plenty of places for marine invertebrates to latch on to and for fish to hide in. Together these animals form a dense tapestry of living creatures that in places completely hides the rock. That gives the habitat of Gray's Reef its common name — a "live bottom".

Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Georgia have used the site to study invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology as well as the effects of erosion.

Human occupation

Although Gray's Reef is more than 19 miles (17 nmi; 31 km) beyond today's shoreline, and 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 m) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, it was once dry land and part of the mainland of North America as recently as 8,000 years ago. Human occupation of the area dates back at least 13,250 years, and coincides with one of the most dramatic periods of climate change in recent earth history, toward the end of the Ice Ages in the Late Pleistocene epoch. Sea levels were more than 200 feet (61 m) lower than present levels, and the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico shorelines were 100 miles (87 nmi; 161 km) to seaward of their present locations. A 2003 research project undertaken by University of Georgia researchers Ervan G. Garrison, Sherri L. Littman, and Megan Mitchell, reported on Gray's Reef fossils and artifacts, including artifacts from a period of occupation by Clovis culture and Paleoindian hunters dating back more than 10,000 years.

External links

• Official NOAA website: Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
• Rowley, Katie. Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary: Connectivity: Bibliography. Silver Spring, MD: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA Central Library, 2020.