PAST AND FUTURE RATES OF STREAM EROSION ALONG CROSSWICKS CREEK, MERCER COUNTY, NJ

Crosswicks Creek is a tributary to the Delaware River just south of Trenton, NJ. The creek and surrounding freshwater tidal marshes have been extensively disturbed over the past 50 years by major road and rail construction, and commercial and residential development. Google Earth and ArcGIS are used to evaluate a series of aerial photographs to establish positional changes of Crosswicks Creek and changes in the areal extent of the tidal marshes. Preliminary data suggest that the rate of the creek’s positional change varies depending on whether the creek is flowing within the marsh or adjacent to a upland hillside of unconsolidated Holocene and pre-Holocene sediment that marks the eastern side of the study area. Erosion of this hillside is potentially significant because residential structures are located along the top of the ridge.