Andrea Eglinton, Gustavus Adolphus College

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Abstract:

In the recent years coastal marshes and submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) beds within the Chesapeake Bay have been declining with rising sea level and warming of the bay. Understanding what is affecting deposition in the marshes could help the efforts being made to preserve them, and sediment provided from SAV diebacks could be playing a major role. A transect of cores, one within the SAV bed and four within the marsh, were taken and analyzed for median grain size and organic content. This along with ²¹⁰Pb dating was used to assess possible linkages between the SAV bed and the marsh. The SAV core was represented by large median grain size (1-2 phi) and low organic content (