Introduction

Long Island Sound (LIS) is a major estuary located in the northeastern United States. It is surrounded by one of the most heavily populated regions in the nation and is impacted by a myriad of human activities, such as recreation, urbanization, and waste disposal. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program's Long Island Sound Environmental Studies Project addressed the role of geologic processes on the condition and dynamics of LIS sediments through a regional and interdisciplinary perspective (see USGS Woods Hole Science Center LIS studies Web page). The USGS collected cores and surface sediment grab samples to characterize the contaminant distribution and history of LIS sediments. The cores and grab samples also yield information about other physical and chemical properties of the sediments. In order to predict the fate of contaminants in LIS, the depositional history and mixing processes responsible for sediment reworking must be understood.

Ninety-nine cores were taken at 58 sites. This report contains X-radiographs of those cores, sediment grain size analyses and determinations of water content. Measurements of Clostridum perfringens in selected cores are presented in Buchholtz ten Brink and Mecray and Buchholtz ten Brink and others (2000a and 2000b). Mercury results in selected cores are presented in Varekamp and others (2000a, 2000b, and 2003). Data on surface samples collected in Long Island Sound as part of the study are presented in Mecray and others (2000) and Mecray and Buchholtz ten Brink (2000).

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: https://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/of/2002/of02-372/intro.htm
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