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Sediment Accumulations Patterns In The Damariscotta River Estuary, Emily A. Chandler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The tidally dominated Damariscotta River estuary is located on the south-central Maine coast. The elongate, north-south orientation of the estuary is characteristic of the indented shoreline in this region and a consequence of the bedrock structural framework, comprised of Paleozoic high-grade metasedimentary rocks. Pegmatite sills form bedrock constriction points that divide the estuary into seven distinct basins. The narrow, bending geometry and sill and basin morphology impact the distribution of sediment within the estuary and the hydrodynamics of the system. This study employs multibeam bathymetry surveys, sediment grab samples and radionuclide analysis (²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs) of sediment …