Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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The center is part of the USGS Coastal/Marine Hazards and Resources Program, which is the primary federal marine geology and physical science research program. The center's staff of 100 provides scientific information that contributes to decisions by other federal agencies, state and local entities, private organizations, industry, and the public about hazards, resource use and protection.
Woods Hole Research
Read about our science projects, find out where we are working and why it matters
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News
Groundwater discharge impacts marine isotope budgets.
Groundwater is an important pathway for materials to flow from land to sea. This is particularly true for materials that are concentrated in groundwater due to chemical interactions between water and aquifer rocks as groundwater flows to the coast.
Geologic Origins: Tracking geologic change along Cape Cod
Rob Thieler, Center Chief of the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, contributed to the January 8, 2021 article, Cape Cod: Shipwrecks, Dune Shacks, and Shifting Sands. Living in Geologic Time: How long will the cape keep its fist raised against the waves? in Eos; Science News by AGU.
Sound Waves Newsletter - October-November 2020
We learn about mapping the Alaska coastline, meet some of our women scientists, and learn how we are connecting with students in a virtual world in this October-November 2020 issue of Sound Waves.
Publications
Groundwater discharge impacts marine isotope budgets of Li, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba
Groundwater-derived solute fluxes to the ocean have long been assumed static and subordinate to riverine fluxes, if not neglected entirely, in marine isotope budgets. Here we present concentration and isotope data for Li, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba in coastal groundwaters to constrain the importance of groundwater discharge in mediating the magnitude and...
Mayfield, Kimberly; Eisenhauer, Anton; Santiago Ramos, Danielle P.; Higgins, John A.; Horner, Tristan; Auro, Maureen; Magna, Tomas; Moosdorf, Nils; Charette, Matthew; Gonneea Eagle, Meagan; Brady, Carolyn; Komar, Nemanja; Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernard; Paytan, Adina Estimating the impact of seep methane oxidation on ocean pH and dissolved inorganic radiocarbon along the U.S. mid‐Atlantic Bight
Ongoing ocean warming can release methane (CH4) currently stored in ocean sediments as free gas and gas hydrates. Once dissolved in ocean waters, this CH4 can be oxidized to carbon dioxide (CO2). While it has been hypothesized that the CO2 produced from aerobic CH4 oxidation could enhance ocean acidification, a previous study...
Garcia-Tigreros, Fenix; Leonte, Mihai; Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Ruiz-Angulo, Angel; Joung, DoongJoo; Young, Benjamin; Kessler, John D. Soil organic carbon development and turnover in natural and disturbed salt marsh environments
Salt marsh survival with sea‐level rise (SLR) increasingly relies on soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and preservation. Using a novel combination of geochemical approaches, we characterized fine SOC (≤1 mm) supporting marsh elevation maintenance. Overlaying thermal reactivity, source (δ13C), and age (F14C) information demonstrates several...
Luk, Sheron; Todd-Brown, Katherine; Eagle, Meagan; McNichol, Ann; Sanderman, Jonathan; Gosselin, Kelsey; Spivak, Amanda C.