Publications

Cold seeps in deep marine settings emit fluids to the overlying ocean and are often associated with such seafloor flux indicators as chemosynthetic biota, pockmarks, and authigenic carbonate rocks. Despite evidence for spatiotemporal variability in the rate, locus, and composition of cold seep fluid emissions, the shallow subseafloor plumbing systems have never been clearly imaged in...

It is difficult and expensive to calculate changes in sediment volume for large sections of sandy beaches. Shoreline change could be a useful proxy for volume change because it can be collected quickly and relatively easily over long distances. In this paper, we summarize several studies that find a high correlation between shoreline change and subaerial volume change. We also examine...

A series of process-oriented numerical simulations is carried out in order to evaluate the relative role of locally generated residual flow and overtides on net sediment transport over linear sandbanks. The idealized bathymetry and forcing are similar to those present in the Norfolk Sandbanks, North Sea. The importance of bottom drag parameterization and bank orientation with respect to...

A suite of naturally occurring radionuclides in the U/Th decay series (222Rn, 223,224,226,228Ra) were studied during wet and dry conditions in Tampa Bay, Florida, to evaluate their utility as groundwater discharge tracers, both within the bay proper and within the Alafia River/estuary — a prominent free-flowing river that empties into the bay. In Tampa Bay, almost 30% of the combined...

The question of the amount of seabed to which a coastal nation is entitled is addressed in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This treaty, ratified by 153 nations and in force since 1994, specifies national obligations, rights, and jurisdiction in the oceans, and it allows nations a continental shelf out to at least 200 nautical miles or to a maritime boundary...

A field evaluation of two new dissolved-oxygen sensing technologies, the Aanderaa Instruments AS optode model 3830 and the Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc., model SBE43, was carried out at about 32-m water depth in western Massachusetts Bay. The optode is an optical sensor that measures fluorescence quenching by oxygen molecules, while the SBE43 is a Clark polarographic membrane sensor...

The Hudson Shelf Valley (HSV) is the largest physiographic feature on the U.S. mid-Atlantic continental shelf. The 150-km long valley is the submerged extension of the ancestral Hudson River Valley that connects to the Hudson Canyon. Unlike other incised valleys on the mid-Atlantic shelf, it has not been infilled with sediment during the Holocene. Analyses of multibeam bathymetry...

To improve our understanding of the interaction of methane gas hydrate with host sediment, we studied: (1) the effects of gas hydrate and ice on acoustic velocity in different sediment types, (2) effect of different hydrate formation mechanisms on measured acoustic properties (3) dependence of shear strength on pore space contents, and (4) pore pressure effects during undrained shear. A...

An 8500-year Holocene simulation developed in GEOMBEST provides a possible scenario to explain the evolution of barrier coast between Rodanthe and Cape Hatteras, NC. Sensitivity analyses suggest that in the Outer Banks, the rate of sea-level rise is the most important factor in determining how barrier islands evolve. The Holocene simulation provides a basis for future simulations, which...

No abstract available.

During the summer, nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) are commonly observed propagating in Massachusetts Bay. The topography of the area is unique in the sense that the generation area (over Stellwagen Bank) is only 25 km away from the shoaling area, and thus it represents an excellent natural laboratory to study the life cycle of NLIWs. To assist in the interpretation of the data...

Sedimentary records of naturally occurring and fallout-derived radionuclides are widely used as tools for estimating both the ages of recent sediments and rates of sedimentation and bioturbation. Developing these records to the point of data interpretation requires careful sample collection, processing, analysis and data modeling. In this work, we document a number of potential pitfalls...