Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Scientific literature and information products produced by Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center staff

Filter Total Items: 1737

Mercury contamination chronologies from Connecticut wetlands and Long Island Sound sediments Mercury contamination chronologies from Connecticut wetlands and Long Island Sound sediments

Sediment cores were used to investigate the mercury deposition histories of Connecticut and Long Island Sound. Most cores show background (pre-1800s) concentrations (50–100 ppb Hg) below 30–50 cm depth, strong enrichments up to 500 ppb Hg in the core tops with lower Hg concentrations in the surface sediments (200–300 ppb Hg). A sediment core from the Housatonic River has peak levels of 1...
Authors
J.C. Varekamp, B. Kreulen, Marilyn R. Buchholtz ten Brink, E.L. Mecray

Use of sand wave habitats by silver hake Use of sand wave habitats by silver hake

Silver hake Merluccius bilinearis are common members of fish communities in sand wave habitats on Georges Bank and on Stellwagen Bank in the Gulf of Maine. Observations of fish size v. sand wave period showed that silver hake are not randomly distributed within sand wave landscapes. Regression analyses showed a significant positive relationship between sand wave period and fish length...
Authors
P.J. Auster, J. Lindholm, S. Schaub, G. Funnell, L.S. Kaufman, P. C. Valentine

Winter-time circulation and sediment transport in the Hudson Shelf Valley Winter-time circulation and sediment transport in the Hudson Shelf Valley

The Hudson Shelf Valley is a bathymetric low that extends across the continental shelf offshore of New York and New Jersey. From December 1999 to April 2000 a field experiment was carried out to investigate the transport of sediment in the shelf and valley system. Near-bed tripods and water-column moorings were deployed at water depths from 38 to 75 m in the axis of the shelf valley and...
Authors
C. K. Harris, B. Butman, P. Traykovski

Tidal truncation and barotropic convergence in a channel network tidally driven from opposing entrances Tidal truncation and barotropic convergence in a channel network tidally driven from opposing entrances

Residual circulation patterns in a channel network that is tidally driven from entrances on opposite sides are controlled by the temporal phasing and spatial asymmetry of the two forcing tides. The Napa/Sonoma Marsh Complex in San Francisco Bay, CA, is such a system. A sill on the west entrance to the system prevents a complete tidal range at spring tides that results in tidal truncation...
Authors
J.C. Warner, D. Schoellhamer, G. Schladow

Real-time seismic data from the coastal ocean Real-time seismic data from the coastal ocean

A moored-buoy system for collecting real-time seismic data from the coastal ocean has been developed and will be deployed for its initial field trial in the fall of 2003. The key component in this moored system is an ultra-stretchy mooring hose that provides compliance for waves and currents and protects the electrical conductors connecting an Ocean Bottom Seismometer (OBS) to a surface...
Authors
D. Frye, Uri S. ten Brink, W. Paul, K. Peal, K. Von Der Heydt

Stratigraphic framework of sediment-starved sand ridges on a mixed siliciclastic/carbonate inner shelf; west-central Florida Stratigraphic framework of sediment-starved sand ridges on a mixed siliciclastic/carbonate inner shelf; west-central Florida

Seismic reflection profiles and vibracores have revealed that an inner shelf, sand-ridge field has developed over the past few thousand years situated on an elevated, broad bedrock terrace. This terrace extends seaward of a major headland associated with the modern barrier-island coastline of west-central Florida. The overall geologic setting is a low-energy, sediment-starved, mixed...
Authors
J.H. Edwards, S. E. Harrison, S. D. Locker, A. C. Hine, D.C. Twichell

Sand ridges off Sarasota, Florida: A complex facies boundary on a low-energy inner shelf environment Sand ridges off Sarasota, Florida: A complex facies boundary on a low-energy inner shelf environment

The innermost shelf off Sarasota, Florida was mapped using sidescan-sonar imagery, seismic-reflection profiles, surface sediment samples, and short cores to define the transition between an onshore siliciclastic sand province and an offshore carbonate province and to identify the processes controlling the distribution of these distinctive facies. The transition between these facies is...
Authors
D. Twichell, Gillian L. Brooks, G. Gelfenbaum, V. Paskevich, Brian Donahue

Mobile fishing gear reduces benthic megafaunal production on Georges Bank Mobile fishing gear reduces benthic megafaunal production on Georges Bank

This study addresses the effect of mobile fishing gear disturbance on benthic megafaunal production on the gravel pavement of northern Georges Bank. From 1994 to 2000, we sampled benthic megafauna with a 1 m Naturalists' dredge at shallow (47 to 62 m) and deep (80 to 90 m) sites. The cessation of fishing in large areas of Georges Bank in January 1995 allowed us to monitor changes in...
Authors
J.M. Hermsen, J.S. Collie, P. C. Valentine

Sediment-starved sand ridges on a mixed carbonate/siliciclastic inner shelf off west-central Florida Sediment-starved sand ridges on a mixed carbonate/siliciclastic inner shelf off west-central Florida

High-resolution side-scan mosaics, sediment analyses, and physical process data have revealed that the mixed carbonate/siliciclastic, inner shelf of west-central Florida supports a highly complex field of active sand ridges mantled by a hierarchy of bedforms. The sand ridges, mostly oriented obliquely to the shoreline trend, extend from 2 km to over 25 km offshore. They show many...
Authors
S. E. Harrison, S. D. Locker, A. C. Hine, J.H. Edwards, D. F. Naar, D.C. Twichell, D. J. Mallinson

Birth of the modern Chesapeake Bay estuary between 7.4 and 8.2 ka and implications for global sea-level rise Birth of the modern Chesapeake Bay estuary between 7.4 and 8.2 ka and implications for global sea-level rise

Two major pulses of sea-level rise are thought to have taken place since the last glacial maximum — meltwater pulses (mwp) 1A (12 cal ka) and 1B (9.5 cal ka). Between mwp 1B and about 6 cal ka, many of the complex coastal ecosystems which ring the world’s oceans began to form. Here we report data for rhenium, carbon isotopes, total organic carbon, and fossil oysters from Chesapeake Bay...
Authors
John F. Bratton, Steven M. Colman, E. Robert Thieler, Robert R. Seal

Anthropogenically induced changes in sediment and biogenic silica fluxes in Chesapeake Bay Anthropogenically induced changes in sediment and biogenic silica fluxes in Chesapeake Bay

Sediment cores as long as 20 m, dated by 14C, 210Pb, and 137Cs methods and pollen stratigraphy, provide a history of diatom productivity and sediment-accumulation rates in Chesapeake Bay. We calculated the flux of biogenic silica and total sediment for the past 1500 yr for two high-sedimentation-rate sites in the mesohaline section of the bay. The data show that biogenic silica flux to...
Authors
Steven M. Colman, J.F. Bratton

Coastal vulnerability assessment of Cape Cod National Seashore to sea-level rise Coastal vulnerability assessment of Cape Cod National Seashore to sea-level rise

A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was used to map the relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise within the Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO). The CVI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of relative sea-level rise, shoreline change rates, mean tidal range and...
Authors
Erika S. Hammar-Klose, Elizabeth A. Pendleton, E. Robert Thieler, S. Jeffress Williams
Was this page helpful?