ZONE OF INFLUENCE-- INNER CONTINENTAL SHELF OF GEORGIA a

ABSTRACT: Ninety-three suspended-matter samples were collected from 52 stations on the inner continental shelf of Georgia during the summer of 1970. Bottom sediment, along with near-surface and near-bottom suspended-matter samples were taken. Salinity, temperature, and current direction and velocity measurements were also made to determine the nature of shelf-sediment transport processes on the inner continental shelf of Georgia. Sediments and suspended matter were analyzed by x-ray diffraction to determine clay mineralogy. It has been previously established that the Georgia rivers contribute kaolinite, smectite, and minor illite to the coastal region, while a kaolinlte-illite clay mineral suite is transported southward by longshore drift so that net transport direction may be inferred by suspended-matter clay mineralogy patterns. The shelf-water circulation pattern during the summer months appears to be a complex system of tidal-current and wind generated eddies superimposed on a predominantly south-ward drift. Clay mineral differential settling characteristics are used to explain the suspended clay mineral distribution and to establish a "zone of influence " which extends three to ten mile