ANTHROPOGENIC EFFECTS AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY: SEDIMENT CORE ANALYSIS OF MUD POND, FRANKLIN COUNTY, NY

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the environmental changes and human impacts on an area in the Adirondack Park from a pond in Franklin County, NY. We collected a sediment core from Mud Pond in August of 2014. Using a modified Livingstone drive rod piston corer we were able to retrieve approximately 4 meters of sediment. We split the core lengthwise, and measured magnetic susceptibility using a high-resolution point sensor. Sediment was then subsampled and composition was evaluated using and loss on ignition, which provides an estimate of organic carbon, carbonate, and inorganic detritus content in the sediment. We compare results to nearby Fishhole Pond where human landscape alterations are more evident than in the Mud Pond watershed.