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The Boston Harbor Story:
Applying Earth Science to issues of immediate public concern

SEDIMENT TRANSPORT BY STORMS

Fine-grained particles that originate in the effluent plume of a sewage outfall carry contaminants with them as they are transported during storms. Understanding this movement of sediments is crutial to tracking pollutants and discharge from the Massachusetts Bay Outfall.
Wind patterns and Sediment deposition

At right: Strong storms with winds from the northeast resuspend fine sediments from western Massachusetts Bay and transport them offshore towards Cape Cod Bay and Stellwagen Basin. Sediments settle to the sea floor along this transport pathway; those particles that reach the sea floor in Cape Cod Bay or Stellwagen Basin are likely to stay in these areas, which are protected from storm waves by either the arm of Cape Cod or by the depth of the basin. Typically, only a few millimeters of sediment are resuspended during each storm.
Pictured Below: Sequence of bottom photographs taken before, during, and after a 1997 Spring storm. During the event , material in suspension obscures the sea floor from view. By the end of the storm, several of the large cobbles on the sea floor have moved. The frame holding the camera also moved during the storm, slightly changing the field of view.
Photo of sediements before storm Photo of sediments during storm Photo of sediments after storm
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Introduction Regional Overview Mapping the Seafloor Harbor Sediments Contaminated Sediment Data
Tracking Pollution Storms and Sediments Circulation Models Stellwagen Bank Credits

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Updated: 11 September 2000