Sedimentological and geotechnical analyses of marine sediment cores from the New England Mud Patch
Dates
Publication Date
2021-08-19
Time Period
2021
Start Date
2016-04-10
End Date
2016-05-02
Citation
Boggess, A.A., Buczkowski, B.J., and Chaytor, J.D., 2021, Sedimentological and geotechnical analyses of marine sediment cores from the New England Mud Patch: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ZYK3PX.
Summary
Variability in sediment properties with depth and the thickness of individual sedimentary layers are critical determinants of seabed acoustic response. The New England Mud Patch, located south of Cape Cod, is an unusual feature on the U.S. Continental Shelf in that it is composed of fine-grained sediment layers containing a relatively-homogeneous mix of sand, silt, and clay-sized particles bounded by more typical sandy shelf sediments. The unique characteristics and nature of this deposit is due to a derivation of sediments that have been transported to, and deposited in, a basal bowl-shaped depression since the last glacial maximum. Ninety-two piston, vibra-, and gravity cores with a maximum length of 8.2 meters were collected from [...]
Summary
Variability in sediment properties with depth and the thickness of individual sedimentary layers are critical determinants of seabed acoustic response. The New England Mud Patch, located south of Cape Cod, is an unusual feature on the U.S. Continental Shelf in that it is composed of fine-grained sediment layers containing a relatively-homogeneous mix of sand, silt, and clay-sized particles bounded by more typical sandy shelf sediments. The unique characteristics and nature of this deposit is due to a derivation of sediments that have been transported to, and deposited in, a basal bowl-shaped depression since the last glacial maximum. Ninety-two piston, vibra-, and gravity cores with a maximum length of 8.2 meters were collected from across the New England Mud Patch during a 2-leg, 10-day cruise aboard the R/V Endeavor in the spring of 2016. Geologic characterization and analysis of a subset of the cores including grain size, CaCO3, mineral composition, and bulk index properties (undrained shear strength, water content, density, and porosity) of discrete samples was carried out at the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center's Sediment Analysis Laboratory. This data release contains the results of these analyses, along with visual core descriptions and summary sheets for each core analyzed for this study.
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MudPatchCores_BrowseGraphic.png “Map indicating extent of mud patch core collection area”
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Related External Resources
Type: Related Primary Publication
Chaytor, J.D., Ballard, M.S., Buczkowski, B.J., Goff, J.A., Lee, K.M., Reed, A.H., and Boggess, A.A., 2021, Measurements of geologic characteristics and geophysical properties of sediments from the New England Mud Patch: Journal of Oceanic Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1109/JOE.2021.3101013.
The data gained through the analyses of cores collected from the New England Mud Patch help provide a comprehensive understanding of the nature and properties of the sediments found in this geographic location. A variety of laboratory analyses were performed on the Mud Patch sediment cores, including grain size, grain density and porosity, bulk organics and carbon content by loss-on-ignition, foraminfera biostratigraphy, high-resolution magnetic susceptibility scanning, X-ray diffraction quantitative analysis, and undrained vane shear strength.
Preview Image
Map indicating extent of mud patch core collection area