Environmental Geochemistry
Research Themes
Coastal Environmental Geochemistry research at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center spans multiple ecosystems and topics, including coastal wetlands, aquifers, and estuaries.
Science Center Objects
Coastal Environmental Geochemistry research at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center spans multiple ecosystems and topics, including coastal wetlands, aquifers, and estuaries, with the goal of providing data and guidance to federal, state, local, and private land owners and managers on these vital ecosystems.
The Salt Marsh Observatory at Sage Lot Pond in the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve serves as an important platform for research in coastal salt marshes. Infrastrucutre in this marsh allows researchers to access sites while maintaining habitat and platform health. The yellow “boardwalk” provides research access while minimizing impact on the marsh platform.
Environmental Geochemistry- Wetland Resilience
Tidal wetlands are key ecosystems because they are unique ecological systems that provide essential habitat for fish, shellfish, birds and other fauna and flora, many of which have great economic importance. At the same time, tidal wetlands provide critical services to society by serving as a physical barrier between our cities, roads and homes and the rising sea. If healthy and properly...
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Date published: November 8, 2018Status: ActiveEnvironmental Geochemistry- Coastal Aquifers, Wetlands, and Tidal Exchange
The interface between groundwater and the coastal or intertidal landscape determines the location and migration path of fresh and saline wetlands. These ecosystems interact with the coastal ocean in many ways, much of which is driven by tidal exchange and groundwater discharge, both common coastal processes that deliver water, nutrients, and other materials to nearshore ecosystems, including...
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Date published: November 8, 2018Status: ActiveEnvironmental Geochemistry- Managed Wetlands
The challenge of wetland persistence is complicated by widespread management and alteration of wetland hydrology, and built infrastructure within migration corridors. Human development and utilization of coastal landscapes in the U.S. during the past several centuries has resulted in loss of approximately half of tidal wetland area, largely due to 1) restriction of tidal flows, through...
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Year Published: 2021Groundwater discharge impacts marine isotope budgets of Li, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba
Groundwater-derived solute fluxes to the ocean have long been assumed static and subordinate to riverine fluxes, if not neglected entirely, in marine isotope budgets. Here we present concentration and isotope data for Li, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba in coastal groundwaters to constrain the importance of groundwater discharge in mediating the magnitude and...
Mayfield, Kimberly; Eisenhauer, Anton; Santiago Ramos, Danielle P.; Higgins, John A.; Horner, Tristan; Auro, Maureen; Magna, Tomas; Moosdorf, Nils; Charette, Matthew; Gonneea Eagle, Meagan; Brady, Carolyn; Komar, Nemanja; Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernard; Paytan, Adina
Recent carbon storage and burial exceed historic rates in the San Juan Bay estuary peri-urban mangrove forests (Puerto Rico, United States)
Mangroves sequester significant quantities of organic carbon (C) because of high rates of burial in the soil and storage in biomass. We estimated mangrove forest C storage and accumulation rates in aboveground and belowground components among five sites along an urbanization gradient in the San Juan Bay Estuary, Puerto Rico. Sites included the...
Wigand, Cathleen; Eagle, Meagan; Branoff, Benjamin; Balogh, Stephen; Miller, Kenneth; Martin, Rose M.; Hanson, Alana; Oczkowski, Autumn; Huertas, Evelyn; Loffredo, Joseph; Watson, Elizabeth Oxygen-controlled recirculating seepage meter reveals extent of nitrogen transformation in discharging coastal groundwater at the aquifer–estuary interface
Nutrient loads delivered to estuaries via submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) play an important role in the nitrogen (N) budget and eutrophication status. However, accurate and reliable quantification of the chemical flux across the final decimeters and centimeters at the sediment–estuary interface remains a challenge, because there is...
Brooks, Thomas W.; Kroeger, Kevin D.; Michael, Holly A.; York, Joanna K.
Assessment of water quality and discharge in the Herring River, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, November 2015 to September 2017
The U.S. Geological Survey, Cape Cod National Seashore of the National Park Service, and Friends of Herring River cooperated from 2015 to 2017 to assess nutrient concentrations and fluxes across the ocean-estuary boundary at a dike on the Herring River in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The purpose of this assessment was to characterize environmental...
Huntington, Thomas G.; Spaetzel, Alana B.; Colman, John A.; Kroeger, Kevin D.; Bradley, Robert T. Soil organic carbon development and turnover in natural and disturbed salt marsh environments
Salt marsh survival with sea‐level rise (SLR) increasingly relies on soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and preservation. Using a novel combination of geochemical approaches, we characterized fine SOC (≤1 mm) supporting marsh elevation maintenance. Overlaying thermal reactivity, source (δ13C), and age (F14C) information demonstrates several...
Luk, Sheron; Todd-Brown, Katherine; Eagle, Meagan; McNichol, Ann; Sanderman, Jonathan; Gosselin, Kelsey; Spivak, Amanda C. Modeling the spatial dynamics of marsh ponds in New England salt marshes
Ponds are common features on salt marshes, yet it is unclear how they affect large-scale marsh evolution. We developed a spatially explicit model that combines cellular automata for pond formation, expansion, and drainage, and partial differential equations for elevation dynamics. We use the mesotidal Barnstable marsh (MA, USA) as a case study,...
Mariotti, G.; Spivak, A.; Luk, S.Y.; Ceccherini, G.; Tyrrell, M.; Gonneea Eagle, Meagan Plant biomass and rates of carbon dioxide uptake are enhanced by successful restoration of tidal connectivity in salt marshes
Salt marshes, due to their capability to bury soil carbon (C), are potentially important regional C sinks. Efforts to restore tidal flow to former salt marshes have increased in recent decades in New England (USA), as well as in some other parts of the world. In this study, we investigated plant biomass and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes at four...
Wang, Fanning; Eagle, Meagan; Kroeger, Kevin D.; Spivak, Amanda C.; Tang, Jianwu An important biogeochemical link between organic and inorganic carbon cycling: Effects of organic alkalinity on carbonate chemistry in coastal waters influenced by intertidal salt marshes
Organic acid charge groups in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) contribute to total alkalinity (TA), i.e. organic alkalinity (OrgAlk). Its effect is often ignored or treated as a calculation uncertainty in many aquatic CO2 studies. This study evaluated the variability, sources, and characteristics of OrgAlk in estuarine waters exchanged tidally with...
Song, Shuzhen; Wang, Zhaohui Aleck; Gonneea Eagle, Meagan; Kroeger, Kevin D.; Chu, Sophie N.; Li, Daoji; Liang, Haorui Getting to the core of the matter
The topic of carbon sequestration in coastal salt marshes can serve as the basis of an investigation story line with plenty of authentic relevance and drama! Consider establishing the context with students as an introduction to this lesson. Many resources for teaching about carbon uptake and sequestration in coastal wetlands can be found at the...
Gonneea Eagle, Meagan Tidal wetland gross primary production across the continental United States, 2000–2019
We mapped tidal wetland gross primary production (GPP) with unprecedented detail for multiple wetland types across the continental United States (CONUS) at 16‐day intervals for the years 2000–2019. To accomplish this task, we developed the spatially explicit Blue Carbon (BC) model, which combined tidal wetland cover and field‐based eddy covariance...
Feagin, R.A.; Forbrich, I.; Huff, T. P.; Barr, J.G.; Ruiz-Plancarte, J.; Fuentes, J.D.; Najjar, R.G.; Vargas, R.; Vazquez Lule, A.; Windham-Myers, L.; Kroeger, Kevin D.; Ward, E. J.; Moore, G.W.; Leclerc, M.; Krauss, K.W.; Stagg, C.L.; Alber, M.; Knox, S. H.; Schafer, K. V. R.; Bianchi, T.S.; Hutchings, J. A.; Nahrawi, H.; Noormets, A.; Mitra, B.; Jaimes, A.; Hinson, A.L.; Bergamaschi, Brian; King, J.S.; Miao, G. Phytoplankton community structure response to groundwater-borne nutrients in the inland bays, Delaware
To determine the impacts of groundwater-borne nutrients on phytoplankton biomass and community structure, we conducted a series of mesocosm experiments in the Inland Bays of Delaware. Four treatments were tested, including mesocosms coupled directly to submarine groundwater seepage, mesocosms with the addition of pumped submarine groundwater,...
Torre, Daniel; Coyne, Kathryn; Kroeger, Kevin D.; York, Joanna K. Water salinity and inundation control soil carbon decomposition during salt marsh restoration: An incubation experiment
Coastal wetlands are a significant carbon (C) sink since they store carbon in anoxic soils. This ecosystem service is impacted by hydrologic alteration and management of these coastal habitats. Efforts to restore tidal flow to former salt marshes have increased in recent decades and are generally associated with alteration of water inundation...
Wang, Faming; Kroeger, Kevin D.; Gonneea Eagle, Meagan; Pohlman, John; Tang, Jianwu Salt marsh ecosystem restructuring enhances elevation resilience and carbon storage during accelerating relative sea-level rise
Salt marshes respond to sea-level rise through a series of complex and dynamic bio-physical feedbacks. In this study, we found that sea-level rise triggered salt marsh habitat restructuring, with the associated vegetation changes enhancing salt marsh elevation resilience. A continuous record of marsh elevation...
Gonneea Eagle, Meagan; Maio, Christopher V.; Kroeger, Kevin D.; Hawkes, Andrea D.; Mora, Jordan; Sullivan, Richard; Madsen, Stephanie; Buzard, Richard M.; Cahill, Niamh; Donnelly, Jeffrey P.
Collection, analysis, and age-dating of sediment cores from mangrove wetlands in San Juan Bay Estuary, Puerto Rico, 2016
We collected sediment cores to determine carbon burial rates and vertical sediment accretion from five sites in the San Juan Bay Estuary. Cores were radiometrically-dated using lead-210 and the Plum age model. Sites had soil C burial rates ranging from 50 grams per meter squared per year (g m-2 y-1) in the San José lagoon to 632 g m-2 y-1 in the Caño Martin Peña in recent decades.
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Date published: July 1, 2021
Collection, analysis, and age-dating of sediment cores from mangrove wetlands in San Juan Bay Estuary, Puerto Rico, 2016
We collected sediment cores to determine carbon burial rates and vertical sediment accretion from five sites in the San Juan Bay Estuary. Cores were radiometrically-dated using lead-210 and the Plum age model. Sites had soil C burial rates ranging from 50 grams per meter squared per year (g m-2 y-1) in the San José lagoon to 632 g m-2 y-1 in the Caño Martin Peña in recent decades.
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Date published: July 1, 2021Collection, analysis, and age-dating of sediment cores from mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems in Tampa Bay, Florida, 2015
Coastal wetlands in Tampa Bay, Florida, are important ecosystems that deliver a variety of ecosystem services. Key to ecosystem functioning is wetland response to sea-level rise through accumulation of mineral and organic sediment. The organic sediment within coastal wetlands is composed of carbon sequestered over the time scale of the wetland’s existence.
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Date published: July 1, 2021Collection, Analysis, and Age-Dating of Sediment Cores from Salt Marshes, Rhode Island, 2016
The accretion history of fringing salt marshes in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, was reconstructed from sediment cores. Age models, based on excess lead-210 and cesium-137 radionuclide analysis, were constructed to evaluate how vertical accretion and carbon burial rates have changed during the past century.
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Date published: July 1, 2021Collection, analysis, and age-dating of sediment cores from Herring River wetlands and other nearby wetlands in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 2015–17
U.S. Geological Survey collected fourteen sediment cores from different ecosystems within the tidally restricted Herring River estuary (four sites) and an estuary in Wellfleet Harbor near the Herring River dike (three sites) between 2015 and 2017. Collected cores were up to 70 cm in length with dry bulk density ranges from 0.03 to 2.39 grams per cubic centimeter and carbon content 0.23% to 46....
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Date published: July 1, 2021Collection, analysis, and age-dating of sediment cores from natural and restored salt marshes on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2015-16
Nineteen sediment cores were collected from five salt marshes on the northern shore of Cape Cod where previously restricted tidal exchange was restored to part of the marshes. Cores were collected in duplicate from two locations within each marsh complex: one upstream and one downstream from the former tidal restriction (typically caused by an undersized culvert or a berm).
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Date published: June 9, 2021Nearshore groundwater seepage and geochemical data measured in 2015 at Guinea Creek, Rehoboth Bay, Delaware
The U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Delaware measured rates of SGD and concentrations of dissolved constituents, including nitrogen species, from recirculating ultrasonic and manual seepage meters, and in nearshore groundwater, on the southern shore of Guinea Creek, an estuarine tributary of Rehoboth Bay, in Millsboro, Delaware, in June, August, and October of 2015.
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Date published: February 17, 2021Geochemical data supporting investigation of solute and particle cycling and fluxes from two tidal wetlands on the south shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2012-19
The U.S. Geological Survey and collaborators collected surface water and porewater geochemical data from a tidal wetland located on the eastern shore of Sage Lot Pond in Mashpee, Massachusetts, within the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, between 2012 and 2019.
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Date published: December 22, 2020Collection, analysis, and age-dating of sediment cores from a salt marsh platform and ponds, Rowley, Massachusetts, 2014-15
Sediment cores were collected from three sites within the Plum Island Ecosystems Long-Term Ecological Research (PIE-LTER) domain in Massachusetts to obtain estimates of long-term marsh decomposition and evaluate shifts in the composition and reactivity of sediment organic carbon in disturbed marsh environments.
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Date published: June 25, 2020Continuous Monitoring Data From Herring River Wetlands, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2015 to January 2020
The Herring River estuary (Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts) has been tidally restricted for over a century by a dike constructed near the mouth of the river. The U.S. Geological Survey collected continuous monitoring data (including water level, soil temperature, air temperature, and meteorological parameters). These datasets can help evaluate key ecosystem drivers.
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Date published: June 1, 2020Continuous monitoring data from Great Barnstable Marsh on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2017-19
These USGS datasets can be used to evaluate changes in water levels across ditched and natural salt marsh regions and provide information for any future studies of salt marsh productivity and geomorphic models in Great Barnstable Marsh.
Field Collections at Head of the Meadow Bay, MA
Remote-Sensing Coastal Change project field collections at the Head of the Meadow Bay in Massachusetts.
Collecting Water Samples
Examples of scientific data collections using samplers, sensors, remote sensors, cameras, and gauges for USGS Patents and Licensing website.
Instrument check at a tidal creek, Falmouth, MA
Meagan Gonneea checks on instruments at a tidal creek in Great Pond, Falmouth, MA. Daily tides drive exchange between coastal wetlands and adjacent estuaries. Here we have instrumented a tidal channel to measure those fluxes over a tidal cycle. When the marsh floods, material is imported from the estuary. Biogeochemical cycles within the wetland, driven by plants and
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Salt Marsh Coring
NAGT summer intern, Kelly Sanks, prepares to collect salt marsh sediment cores with her advisor, Dr. Meagan Gonneea (Cape Cod, MA).
Core retrieval
Dr. Meagan Gonneea (Cape Cod, MA) retrieves a core from an infilling salt marsh pond in the Great Barnstable Marsh.
Dune Surveys, Cape Cod, MA
Surveying with UAS in cooperation with US Army Corps of Engineers (Cape Cod, MA).
Great view of the Great Marsh, Cape Cod, MA
USGS scientists, along with collaborators from the Marine Biological Laboratory, deployed a carbon flux tower on Great Marsh in 2017. Great Marsh is a 3800 acre salt marsh complex behind the Sandy Neck barrier beach in Barnstable, Cape Cod. This ecosystem is home to a variety of animals, including deer, fox, owls, and the rare Diamondback terrapin. The carbon flux tower
USGS Research Scientist, Meagan Gonneea, shares science
USGS Research Scientist, Meagan Gonneea, talking about the differences between coastal salt marshes and invasive phragmites at the 2017 Woods Hole Science Stroll outreach event
Technicians measuring greenhouse gas flux
Technicians measuring greenhouse gas flux from floating chambers and water chemistry in a prairie pothole wetland at Cottonwood Lake Study Area, North Dakota.
Testing the Water!
Jen Suttles,Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, collects water samples from a salt marsh tidal creek (East Falmouth, MA) for laboratory analysis of total organic carbon. These samples will be compared to data recorded by instrumentation deployed in an adjacent tidal creek as part of research efforts to quantify carbon dynamics in coastal ecosystems
Down Deep in Carbon!
Meagan Gonneea, Mendenhall Postdoc, and Kelly Sanks, intern with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT), are deep in a wetland vegetated by a tall wetland reed known as phragmites. They are looking for a good location to collect a sediment core. This phragmites wetland was once a salt marsh, but transportation infrastructure built in the early 20th century
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Sunset at Sage Lot Pond Salt Marsh Observatory
Sunset at Sage Lot Pond Salt Marsh Observatory marks the end of 16 hour field effort. During this sampling, USGS researchers captured the exchange of materials between the marsh and estuary. This field site provides infrastructure to keep sensors deployed nearly year-round so changes across seasons and extreme events, such as large storms, are captured. The boardwalk
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Groundwater discharge impacts marine isotope budgets.
Groundwater is an important pathway for materials to flow from land to sea. This is particularly true for materials that are concentrated in groundwater due to chemical interactions between water and aquifer rocks as groundwater flows to the coast.