Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)

Location	Georgia, USA
Nearest city	Savannah, GA
Coordinates	31°24′0″N 80°56′0″W / 31.40000°N 80.93333°W / 31.40000; -80.93333Coordinates: 31°24′0″N 80°56′0″W / 31.40000°N 80.93333°W / 31.40000; -80.93333
Area	17 NM² (58 km²)
Established	January 1981
Governing body	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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 17.5 nautical miles (32.4 km) off Sapelo Island, Georgia, and is one of 13 marine sanctuaries that make up the U.S. National Marine Sanctuary System.

Within the 17-square-nautical-mile (58 km²) sanctuary, there are both rocky ledges and sandy flat places. The reef's dolomitic sandstone outcrops, submerged beneath 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 m) of water, can be as tall as 2 to 3 m and are highly complex.^[1] These nooks and crannies provide plenty of places for invertebrates to latch on to and for fish to hide in. Together these animals form a dense carpet 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 NOAA and the University of Georgia have used the site to study invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology as well as the effects of erosion.^[1]

References

1 2 Noakes, SE; Garrison, EG; McFall, GB (2009). "Underwater Paleontology: Recovery of a Prehistoric Whale Mandible Offshore Georgia". In: Pollock NW, ed. Diving for Science 2009. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences 28th Symposium. Dauphin Island, AL. Retrieved 2013-05-07.

External links

Official NOAA website: Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

Protected areas of Georgia

Federal

National historic sites and military parks	Andersonville NHS Jimmy Carter NHS Martin Luther King Jr. NHS Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

National monuments	Fort Frederica Fort Pulaski Ocmulgee

National forests	Chattahoochee Oconee

National wildlife refuges	Banks Lake Blackbeard Island Bond Swamp Eufaula Harris Neck Okefenokee Piedmont Savannah Wassaw Wolf Island

Wilderness areas	Big Frog Wilderness Blood Mountain Wilderness Brasstown Wilderness Cohutta Wilderness Cumberland Island National Seashore Ellicott Rock Wilderness Mark Trail Wilderness Okefenokee Wilderness Raven Cliffs Wilderness Rich Mountain Wilderness Southern Nantahala Wilderness Tray Mountain Wilderness

Wild and scenic rivers	Chattooga River

National trails	Appalachian Trail Pinhoti National Recreation Trail

Other protected areas	Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area Cumberland Island National Seashore Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve

State

Parks	Amicalola Falls Black Rock Mountain Bobby Brown Buck Shoals Chattahoochee Bend Cloudland Canyon Crooked River Don Carter Elijah Clark F.D. Roosevelt Florence Marina Fort Mountain Fort Yargo General Coffee George L. Smith George T. Bagby Georgia Veterans Gordonia-Alatamaha Hamburg Hard Labor Creek Hart High Falls Indian Springs James H. "Sloppy" Floyd John Tanner Laura S. Walker Little Ocmulgee Magnolia Springs Mistletoe Moccasin Creek Panola Mountain Providence Canyon Red Top Mountain Reed Bingham Richard B. Russell Sapelo Island Seminole Skidaway Island Smithgall Woods Sprewell Bluff Standing Boy Creek Stephen C. Foster Sweetwater Creek Tallulah Gorge Tugaloo Unicoi Victoria Bryant Vogel Watson Mill Bridge

Historic parks and sites	A.H. Stephens Chief Vann House Dahlonega Gold Museum Etowah Indian Mounds Fort McAllister Fort King George Fort Morris Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation Jarrell Plantation Jefferson Davis Memorial Kolomoki Mounds Lapham-Patterson House Little White House New Echota Pickett's Mill Battlefield Robert Toombs House Travelers Rest Wormsloe

Forests	Baldwin Bartram Brender-Hitchiti Dixon Memorial Dawson Hightower Paulding Spirit Creek

Other	Centennial Olympic Park Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center Jekyll Island Len Foote Hike Inn Radium Springs Sapelo Island Stone Mountain Park

County,
municipal
and other

Parks	Chehaw Park Cobb County Parks McIntosh Reserve Murphey Candler Park Okefenokee Swamp Park Robert G. Hunter Memorial Park Roswell Recreation and Parks Seaborn Jones Memorial Park Shaking Rock Park

Forests and nature preserves	Autrey Mill Nature Preserve & Heritage Center Fernbank Forest Marshall Forest Morningside Nature Preserve Phinizy Swamp Nature Park Reynolds Nature Preserve

Nature and environmental education centers	Birdsong Nature Center Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center Chattahoochee Nature Center Cochran Mill Nature Center Dauset Trails Nature Center Dunwoody Nature Center Elachee Nature Science Center Georgia Nature Center Grand Bay Wetland Education Center Melvin L. Newman Wetlands Center Oatland Island Wildlife Center Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center Panola Mountain State Park Nature Center Sandy Creek Nature Center Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Museum & Nature Center Tidelands Nature Center Tybee Island Marine Science Center West Atlanta Watershed Alliance Outdoor Activity Center

Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Georgia Forestry Commission (web)

United States National Marine Sanctuaries

Channel Islands Cordell Bank Fagatele Bay Florida Keys Flower Garden Banks Gray's Reef Gulf of the Farallones Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Monitor Monterey Bay Olympic Coast Papahānaumokuākea Stellwagen Bank Thunder Bay

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