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J.L. Glenn

Publications and source records attributed to J.L. Glenn.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1986

Sediment data for computation of deposition rates in the tidal Potomac system, Maryland and Virginia

Sixty-two cores ranging in length from 33 to 1002 cm were collected from the tidal Potomac system and from selected tributaries downstream from the local head-of-tides between June 1978 and July 1981. Segments from selected depths below the sediment surface have been analyzed for a variety of constituents, including lead-210, trace metals, nutrients, and particle size. The core sites were positioned throughout the hydrologic divisions and geomorphic units of the tidal Potomac system and in water depths ranging from 1 to 30 cm. Cores collected by divers were mostly for historical deposition-rate computations. Vibra cores, as much as 12 m long, were collected primarily to provide data on long-term (pre-historical) sedimentation rates and conditions. Benthos cores were used to provide samples rapidly in locations where divers were not available. Alpha counting methods were used to determine the polonium-210 radioactivity and secular equilibrium was assumed between lead-210 and polonium-210. The alpha decay of polonium-210 provides a measure of the lead-210 radioactivity of the lead-210 produced by in-situ decay of radium-226 in the sediment column (background lead-210) and the lead-210 from external sources (unsupported lead-210). Only the unsupported lead-210 was used in computations of the deposition rate. The count error is based on the counting statistics alone and varies from 3 to 5% of the total number of counts. The background level of lead-210 in tidal Potomac system sediment cores usually is based on in-situ measurements of total lead-210 at depths below which no unsupported lead-210 is believed to be present, and the lead-210 concentrations are relatively constant. (Lantz-PTT)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1981

Sedimentary framework of the Potomac River estuary, Maryland

Analyses of seismic-reflection profiles, sediment cores, grab samples, and side-scan sonar records, along with previously collected borehole data, reveal the characteristics, distribution, and geologic history of the shallow strata beneath the Potomac River estuary. The lowermost strata are sediments of the Chesapeake Group (lower Miocene to lower Pleistocene) that crop out on land near the shore but are buried as much as 40 m below the floor of the estuary. The top of these sediments is an erosional unconformity that outlines the Wisconsinan valley of the Potomac River. This valley has a sinuous trend, a flat bottom, a relief of 15 to 34 m, and axial depths of 34 to 54 m below present sea level. During the Holocene transgression of sea level, the ancestral valley was filled with as much as 40 m of sandy and silty, fluvial-to-shallow estuarine sediments. The fill became the substrate for oyster bars in the upper reach and now forms most marginal slopes of the estuary. Since sea level approached its present position (2,000 to 3,000 yr ago), the main channel has become the locus of deposition for watery, gray to black clay or silty clay, and waves and currents have eroded the heterogeneous Quaternary sediments along the margins, leaving winnowed brown sand on shallow shoreline flats. Pb-210 analyses indicate that modern mud is accumulating at rates ranging from 0.16 to 1.80 cm/yr, being lowest near the mouth and increasing toward the head of the estuary. This trend reflects an increased accumulation of fine-grained fluvial sediments near the turbidity maximum, similar to that found in nearby Chesapeake Bay. The present annual accumulation of mud is about 1.54 million metric tons; the cumulative mass is 406 million metric tons.

Maryl↗
USGS1981

Textural composition of shallow cores from the tidal Potomac River and Estuary; 1978 and 1979

During 1978 and 1979, 37 cores were collected by divers from the tidal Potomac River system and from adjacent marginal embayments. These cores, approximately 1 m in length, are representative of geomorphic divisions within the riverine, transitional, and estuarine parts of the Potomac and of several tributaries. X-radiographs were made of an unsampled half of each core. The cores were subsampled at selected intervals for textural analyses. The textural data presented in this report are being used to complement trace-metal, nutrient, and sedimentation studies in the tidal Potomac River system.

Maryland, Virginia↗