Celebrating the 5,000th Sample in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary!
On Friday, July 23rd, Page Valentine, a Research Geologist with the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, collected his 5,000th sample in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary of Massachusetts Bay!
Before Page began studying the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS), little was known of the seafloor environments in this heavily utilized area offshore of Cape Cod, MA. In collaboration with NOAA and the Canadian Hydrographic Service, USGS conducted a multibeam topographic and backscatter survey of the SBNMS region that in it’s time (around 1993) was the among the largest seafloor mapping efforts in history. Page has now collected 5,000 sediment samples to verify the remotely-sensed bottom types covering 3,800 square kilometers of the continental shelf. The mapping methodology developed by Page is the first successful attempt to integrate surficial geology, sediment stability and movement, and seabed features to fully characterize substrate conditions of this topographically rugged and diverse region. Glacial ice left its indelible imprint in the form of moraines, eskers, hanging valleys, banks, basins, ice fall deposits, iceberg gouges, and other features that are the foundation for highly productive marine ecosystems. In water depths of less than 50 meters, Stellwagen Bank has long been heavily impacted by major winter storms, which generate large sand waves, and also by mobile bottom fishing gear which has re-shaped large areas of the ocean floor.
This series of interpretive maps (18 contiguous quadrangles) provides a framework for scientific research in the region and for managing fishery resources and infrastructure. For example, extensive boulder ridges (remnants of glacial eskers and moraines) are commonly utilized by juvenile and adult commercial fish species; thus GIS-based maps of boulder ridges allow fisheries managers to locate and calculate the areas of these critical habitats. The dynamics of seabed sediments determine the distribution of many species, such as juvenile cod which are now known to require a stable pebble gravel habitat. Juvenile sea scallops are adapted to gravel and immobile sand and cannot survive on mobile sand. The distribution of highly invasive tunicates (commonly called sea squirts) also can be predicted from the mapping results because it can only survive on hard substrates and requires a specific temperature range for reproduction.
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Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Geologic Mapping
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Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Geologic Mapping
These field activity data releases, publications, and maps are part of the combined effort by the U.S. Geological Survey and NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to map the geologic substrates of Stellwagen Bank and to study the ecology of fish and invertebrate species that inhabit the bank’s sandy substrates off Boston, Massachusetts.National Seafloor Mapping and Benthic Habitat Studies
The Stellwagen Bank region, located off Boston, Massachusetts, just east of Massachusetts Bay between Cape Cod and Cape Ann, is a glaciated terrain of shallow banks and deep basins with water depths ranging from 20 to 200 meters. The region is heavily utilized by humans and marine species. It serves as a National Marine Sanctuary; a rich commercial and recreational fishing ground; a disposal site...
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