INSIGHTS INTO BILLABLE HOURS: PLANNING AND EXECUTING LAKE STUDIES

An NSF-MRI grant has allowed for the construction and implementation of a project-based sedimentology course focused on development of baseline data within the Belgrade Lakes watershed, central Maine. Local lake associations are concerned with perceived deterioration in lake quality, requiring data on a suite of sedimentological and geochemical lake parameters over space and time. The NSF-funded integrated research platform is equipped to retrieve bottom sediment samples and extract vibracores from moderate water depths, in addition to real-time analyses of water column sediment and plankton load using an onboard Spectrex Laser Particle Size Analyzer and bioluminescence sensor, respectively.

Students incorporate their own consulting firm after being “contracted” to study one of the Belgrade Lakes. Contractual arrangements are presented by the course instructor and students are provided with an outline of field and laboratory techniques to be used in the study; each technique forms the basis of subsequent laboratories in the first half of the semester. Students produce a work plan and schedule, estimate of billable hours, and deliverables to satisfy the contract. The class is responsible for collection and analysis of at least one representative vibracore from the lake, and each student collects a suite of bottom sediment samples from across the study area. Each student is responsible for providing the group with grain-size, Total Organic Carbon, and Total Organic Nitrogen data from his/her sample suite by the date established by the corporation. Following data acquisition, students must generate computer-aided distribution maps of all parameters to be presented and discussed in their final report to the contractor. Data analysis and report preparation is done by each student. Following receipt of final reports, one class period is allocated to a debriefing of the project. Project results have been presented at regional GSA meetings, and copies of the reports have been provided to governing boards of the local lake association and Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection.