Buffalo River Mississippian research float

MArkUP research float along a section of the Buffalo River from Woolum to Gilbert, 20 miles, two days. First day was 9 hours to go 11 miles, dragging the canoe most of the way. Overnight on a gravel bank with thunderstorms threatening, second day 9 miles in 4 hours. Good water in lower 9 miles, great outcrops. Fantastic trip. On board were Rob, Chris, John, Caleb, and Richard.

This section of the river basically follows the St.Joe-Boone contact for nearly 20 miles. Every variation of this contact probably exists along this run. Important observations include Boone basal black chert in several areas apparently associated with carbonate buildups, a whiffle pattern in the uppermost St. Joe that in outcrop is mysterious but when seen in the riverbed are long elongated wave ripples, and dozens of examples of the occurrence, limit and nature of tripolite chert in the lower Boone. You can read here what Dana said about tripolite in his 1887 Manual of Mineralogy.

John was the primary photographer, all photos are geo-located and will be included in our Google Earth database.

Note: This float is recommended only if USGS St. Joe water level is above 4.2 ft.  The level was 3.7 when we started on 6/27, meaning we did a lot of canoe dragging in the upper 10 miles.