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

Filter Total Items: 1737

Eutrophication and carbon sources in Chesapeake Bay over the last 2700 yr: Human impacts in context Eutrophication and carbon sources in Chesapeake Bay over the last 2700 yr: Human impacts in context

To compare natural variability and trends in a developed estuary with human-influenced patterns, stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) were measured in sediments from five piston cores collected in Chesapeake Bay. Mixing of terrestrial and algal carbon sources primarily controls patterns of δ13Corg profiles, so this proxy shows changes in estuary productivity and in delivery of...
Authors
J.F. Bratton, Steven M. Colman, R.R. Seal

The west-central Florida inner shelf and coastal system: A geologic conceptual overview and introduction to the special issue The west-central Florida inner shelf and coastal system: A geologic conceptual overview and introduction to the special issue

This paper provides an overview for this special publication on the geologic framework of the inner shelf and coastal zone of west-central Florida. This is a significant geologic setting in that it lies at the center of an ancient carbonate platform facing an enormous ramp that has exerted large-scale control on coastal geomorphology, the availability of sediments, and the level of wave...
Authors
A. C. Hine, G. R. Brooks, R.A. Davis, D.S. Duncan, S. D. Locker, D.C. Twichell, G. Gelfenbaum

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

Coastal erosion and wetland change in Louisiana: selected USGS products Coastal erosion and wetland change in Louisiana: selected USGS products

This Digital Data Series (DDS) report is primarily a selection of USGS science products that were previously published as paper atlases and maps but are no longer available in their original form. We have made an attempt to preserve the paper atlases by having them scanned in an efficient compressed digital format that provides a print-on-demand as well as a programmed viewing capability...
Authors
S. Jeffress Williams, Jamey M. Reid, VeeAnn A. Cross, Christopher F. Polloni

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

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

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

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

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

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

Late Holocene estuarine-inner shelf interactions; is there evidence of an estuarine retreat path for Tampa Bay, Florida? Late Holocene estuarine-inner shelf interactions; is there evidence of an estuarine retreat path for Tampa Bay, Florida?

The purpose of this study was to determine if and how a large, modern estuarine system, situated in the middle of an ancient carbonate platform, has affected its adjacent inner shelf both in the past during the last, post-glacial sea-level rise and during the present. An additional purpose was to determine if and how this inner shelf seaward of a major estuary differed from the inner...
Authors
B.T. Donahue, A. C. Hine, S. Tebbens, S. D. Locker, D.C. Twichell
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