Physical Features of GTM Research Reserve

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The GTM Research Reserve's coastal estuaries are bounded to the west by Pamlico Terrace which has an elevation of 5-25 feet above sea level.
The elevation within the GTM Research Reserve ranges from sea level to 40 feet on the dunes within its northern component and central regions of the Pellicer Creek Conservation Area.
The ground of GTM Research Reserve is covered with Holocene epoch (younger than 10,000 years) sediments including sand, clay and shell fragments. Older limestone from the Anastasia formation is exposed on the southern beach in Guana River Marsh Aquatic Preserve.
The Tolomato, Guana and Matanzas River estuaries form a system of bar-bounded estuaries that extend south from Jacksonville to south of Marineland in Flagler County.
The Guana River estuary runs parallel to the Tolomato Matanzas estuary on the seaward side with the two lagoons joining just north of St. Augustine Inlet. Oceanic exchange occurs at the St. Augustine Inlet and St. Johns Inlet.
The Matanzas River estuary extends 20 miles south from the St. Augustine Inlet to about 8 miles south of the Matanzas Inlet. These inlets form the oceanic exchange for the estuarine ecosystem.
The St. Augustine Inlet has been stabilized with north and south jetties.
Matanzas Inlet is one of the last natural inlets on Florida's east coast. It has no dredged channel and little armoring along its southern shoreline.
Two aquifers are found around GTM Research Reserve - a shallow aquifer recharged by rainwater and the Floridan aquifer which is highly mineralized.
A submarine spring is off the coast of Crescent Beach, near Pellicer Creek Aquatic Preserve.

Geomorphology map of the GTM Research Reserve watershed

GTM Research Reserve

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