Sediment Coring in Virginia Wetlands

Research Geologist Dr. Miriam Jones holds a coring device used to core Holocene sediments from Virginia wetlands along a tributary of the Yorktown River.  Dr. Jones and her colleagues are studying the effects of increased tidal inundation along the Yorktown’s tributaries as rates of sea-level rise increase.  As sea level rises, tidal inundation and salinity transitions forested wetlands to marshes  (pictured), which alters vegetation and biogeochemical dynamics.