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Background
Description
This website is a pilot project designed to provide easily accessible,
high-quality scientific data to the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coastal
management communities. It contains a small portion of the results
obtained from three major research projects undertaken at the Graduate
School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island between the years 1985-2003.
These projects documented the level of contaminants in coastal sediments,
and provide a basis for assessing the relationship between landuse and
the health of the coastal ecosystem. Data included in this website
have not been published previously, or are available only in gray literature
which can be difficult to access for resource managers (Corbin, 1989, King,
et al., 1995; Ford, 2003).
Geographic Location
- Narragansett Bay,
including the Blackstone, Providence, and Taunton Rivers.
- Rhode Island coastal lagoons: Winnapaug, Quonochontaug,
and Ninigret Ponds.
Data Included
- Concentrations of copper, lead and mercury in
surface sediments
- Sediment grain size
- Concentration of carbon in surface sediments
Data Sources
All data was generated by the Paleomagnetics and Inorganic Geochemistry
Laboratory at the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode
Island. (For detailed information on each project, click on the
dataset links.)
Methods
A detailed description of the field and analytical methods is located
in the technical info
section of this website.
Funding Sources
This project was funded under the Partnership for Narragansett Bay Watershed
Action Grant (BAYWAG) program. Funding sources for the program include
the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, the Massachusetts Watershed Initiative,
the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, by grants to the New England Interstate Water Pollution
Control Commission. The contents do not necessarily reflect the views
and policies of the funding agencies, nor does the mention of trade names
or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.
For more information on BAYWAG grants, see
www.nbep.org
.
References
Corbin, J. M., 1989. Recent and Historical Accumulation of
Trace Metal Contaminants in Narragansett Bay Sediments, RI. Unpublished
Master of Science Thesis, Graduate School of Oceanography, University
of Rhode Island. 295 pp.
Dean, W.E., 1974. Determination of carbonate and organic matter
in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition: comparison
with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 44: 242-248.
Ford, K.H., 2003. The distribution and potential impact of
inorganic and organic contaminants in coastal lagoons, Rhode Island.
Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis chapter, Graduate School of Oceanography, University
of Rhode Island. 45 pp.
King, J., J. Corbin, R. McMaster, J. Quinn, P. Gangemi, D. Cullen,
J. Latimer, J. Peck, C. Gibson, J. Boucher, S. Pratt, L. LeBlanc, J.
Ellic, and M. Pilson, 1995. A Study of the Sediments of Narragansett
Bay, Volume 1: The Surface Sediments of Narragansett Bay. Final
Report Submitted to the Narragansett Bay Project. 201pp.
Long, E. R., D. D. Mcdonald, S. L. smith and H. D. Calder, 1995.
Incidence of adverse biological effects within ranges of chemical concentrations
in marine and estuarine sediments. Environmental Management, 19:
81-97.
Thompson, R. H., M. F. Hutchinson, and W. Dilibero, 2001
. GIS Creates New Opportunities and Issues for coastal Communities
. Maritimes, v. 43:1, pp. 13-15.
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For more
information contact: (401) 874-6182
Page last modified
June 6, 2003
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