INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION: CORING TO UNDERSTAND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Description and interpretation of sediment cores can develop an understanding of recent environmental change and apply many of the fundamental principles of geology. Using salt-marsh cores collected along a transect in coastal Maine, we will construct records of recent sea-level change. This will be a hands-on, get-dirty experience! Participants will work in teams to examine and describe cores, develop interpretations for subsurface units, and correlate and synthesize information from cores along the transect. Teams will each log a core, describing unit contacts, textures, lithology, and identifying vegetation macrofossils. The core logs will be used to construct a cross-section of the marsh transect and to develop a history of environmental change for the marsh. Participants will evaluate the cross-section for evidence of sea-level rise and other geomorphic processes influencing marsh development. We will also briefly discuss radiocarbon dating and the establishment of temporal control for environmental change events. Additional examples from freshwater wetlands and bog environments, oceans, and lakes will be discussed to emphasize the applicability of techniques used in the workshop to cores from other environments.