Initial results of high-resolution sea-floor mapping offshore of the New York - New Jersey metropolitan area using sidescan sonar
Dates
Publication Date
1997
Citation
Initial results of high-resolution sea-floor mapping offshore of the New York - New Jersey metropolitan area using sidescan sonar; 1997; Article; Journal; Northeastern Geology and Environmental Sciences; Schwab, W. C.; Allison, M. A.; Corso, W.; Lotto, L. L.; Butman, B.; Buchholtz, Ten, Brink, M.; Denny, J. F.; Danforth, W. W.; Foster, D. S.
Summary
High-resolution seismic, sidescan-sonar, multibeam bathymetry, and sediment sampling techniques were used to map the surficial geology and shallow subbottom stratigraphy of a segment of the inner shelf and nearshore region of New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. Preliminary analyses of these data provide a sedimentologic framework for addressing a wide range of science and management issues. Principal features identified include: 1) a series of sharply defined, rippled scour depressions in the nearshore areas of Long Island and New Jersey that are thought to be an erosional pattern indicative of storm-induced cross-shelf sediment-transport processes from the shoreface; 2) outcropping Upper Cretaceous to early Tertiary coastal plain [...]
Summary
High-resolution seismic, sidescan-sonar, multibeam bathymetry, and sediment sampling techniques were used to map the surficial geology and shallow subbottom stratigraphy of a segment of the inner shelf and nearshore region of New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. Preliminary analyses of these data provide a sedimentologic framework for addressing a wide range of science and management issues. Principal features identified include: 1) a series of sharply defined, rippled scour depressions in the nearshore areas of Long Island and New Jersey that are thought to be an erosional pattern indicative of storm-induced cross-shelf sediment-transport processes from the shoreface; 2) outcropping Upper Cretaceous to early Tertiary coastal plain strata and associated gravelly lag deposits; 3 ) morphologic and chemical indications of anthropogenic waste disposal and redistribution; 4) extensive deposits of medium- to fine-grained sand northeast and east of the Hudson Shelf Valley; 5) acoustic backscatter patterns on the sidescan imagery and sediment bedforms that indicate a general south-southwest sediment transport direction toward the Hudson Shelf Valley; and 6) the Hudson Shelf Valley is a depositional site for silty sediment and acts as a conduit for cross-shelf pollutant transport.
