Sediment sample locations and analysis collected in the vicinity of Buffalo Reef, Michigan, within Lake Superior during USGS Field Activity 2018-043-FA (Microsoft Excel file)

In September 2018, the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC), in collaboration with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), conducted high-resolution geophysical mapping and sediment sampling to determine the distribution of historical mine tailings on the floor of Lake Superior. Large amounts of waste material from copper mining, locally known as “stamp sands”, were dumped into the lake in the early 20th century, with wide-reaching consequences that have continued into the present day. Mapping was focused offshore of the town of Gay on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, where ongoing erosion and re-deposition of the stamp sands has buried miles of native, white-sand beaches and is steadily encroaching south onto [...]