Quicks Hole - Elizabeth Islands

Quicks Hole is a heavily traveled passage between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. It is located between Nashawena and Pasque Islands along the Elizabeth Island chain, west of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Multibeam echo-sounder and sidescan sonar data, which cover an approximately 22.9-km2 area of sea floor that extends from Vineyard Sound on the south to Buzzards Bay on the north, were collected during NOAA hydrographic survey H11076 by the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson. Although originally collected for charting purposes, these data provide a fundamental framework for research and management activities along this part of the Massachusetts coastline (Noji and others, 2004), show the composition and terrain of the seabed, and provide information on sediment transport and benthic habitat.

Cooperators: National Oceanic and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)and Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM).

Overview of the Quicks Hole survey area showing shaded relief bathymetry colored by depth. Click on figure for larger image.

Project Status: Complete

Map and Report published as:
Poppe, L.J., Ackerman, S.D., Foster, D.S., Blackwood, D.S., Butman, B., Moser, M.S., Stewart, H.F., 2007, Sea-Floor Character and Surface Processes in the Vicinity of Quicks Hole, Elizabeth Islands, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1357, DVD-ROM. Also available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1357/.

News & Other related links:

• NOAA's National Ocean Service - Hydrographic Surveying
  
  

For more information:

Larry Poppe
U.S. Geological Survey
Woods Hole Science
384 Woods Hole Rd.
Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
lpoppe@usgs.gov