INVESTIGATING LAND USE INDUCED SEDIMENTATION BEHIND TWO HISTORIC MILL DAMS IN EASTERN CONNECTICUT

Historic mills often used dams to create ponds and provide reliable hydropower to operate. These ponds collect sediment and therefore have the potential to preserve a sedimentological record of any watershed or fluvial changes that occurred while the dam was in place, including land use changes. This study compares multiple sediment cores from two historic ponds in eastern Connecticut, both of which had mills and a reservoir present for over 200 years . These locations differ significantly in terms of land use: one site has little evidence of historic land clearing (as evidenced by stone walls); the other site has evidence of significant historic land clearing and continued land use throughout the 20 and 21st century. Sediment cores will be analyzed for organic content (LOI), elemental analysis (pXRF), grain size, radiocarbon dating, gamma spectrometry to determine a 210Pb and 137Cs age model, and sediment accumulation rates. A significant difference in the thickness of sediment, timing of sedimentation, and heavy metal patterns is expected between the two sites due to the difference in historic land use.