Geology topics

Research about Assateague Island, Chincoteague Bay

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Assateague Island, Chincoteague Bay.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2018

The foraminifera of Chincoteague Bay, Assateague Island, and the surrounding areas: A regional distribution study

Foraminiferal census data from Chincoteague Bay, Newport Bay, the salt marshes of Assateague Island, adjacent mainland salt marshes, and the inner-shelf, were assessed to determine the current assemblages in Chincoteague Bay, and how the different environments surrounding the bay, and the gradients within the bay, influence the microfossil distribution. Determining the current background distribution and its drivers allows for future comparisons to determine paleoenvironmental conditions, impacts from natural and anthropogenic pollution, and the influence of climate change. Foraminiferal census data were compared to sedimentological characteristics and environmental parameters, exhibiting strong correlations with salinity, sediment organic content, and grain-size. Foraminiferal distributions exhibited a gradient from an assemblage dominated by Elphidium cf. E. excavatum near Chincoteague inlet to an assemblage dominated by Ammonia parkinsoniana and Ammobaculites cf. Ab. exiguus in the more restricted central and northern portions of the bay. The sites closest to the mouth of Trappe Creek in Newport Bay, along the western side of Chincoteague Bay and in the central bay, had a greater relative abundance of dead agglutinated taxa compared with the majority of sites in Chincoteague Bay. Despite the overwhelming dominance of calcareous taxa throughout the bay, dissolution may affect the preservation potential of Cribroelphidium poeyanum and Haynesina germanica in the northern and central portions of Chincoteague Bay, as indicated by seasonal pH data. Similarly, the sandy back-barrier lagoonal sites exhibited relatively low densities, potentially a result of dissolution or mechanical destruction.

Assateague Island, Chincoteague Bay↗

USGS2017

A seasonal and spatial comparison of metals, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, in Chincoteague Bay and the marsh deposits of Assateague Island and the adjacent vicinity, Maryland and Virginia

After Hurricane Sandy, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a seasonal collection of estuarine, marsh, and sandy overwash surface sediments from Chincoteague Bay, Tom’s Cove, and the surrounding Assateague Island and Delmarva Peninsula in March–April and October 2014. Surplus surface sediment was analyzed for metals, percent carbon and nitrogen, δ 13 C, and δ 15 N as part of a complementary U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program Sea-level and Storm Impacts on Estuarine Environments and Shorelines project study. The geochemical subsample analyzed for metals and stable isotopes at each site may be used for comparison with past data sets, to create a modern baseline of the natural distribution of the area, to understand seasonal variability as it relates to the health of the local environment, and to assess marsh-to-bay interactions. The use of metals, stable carbon, and stable nitrogen isotopes allows for a more cohesive snapshot of factors influencing the environment and could aid in tracking environmental change. This report serves as an archive for chemical data derived from the surface sediment. Data are available for a seasonal comparison between the March–April 2014 and October 2014 sampling trips. Downloadable data are available as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. These additional files include formal Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata ( data downloads ).

Maryland, Virginia↗

USGS2017

Distribution of foraminifera in Chincoteague Bay and the marshes of Assateague Island and the adjacent vicinity, Maryland and Virginia

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a seasonal collection of estuarine, marsh, and sandy washover surface sediments from Chincoteague Bay, Tom’s Cove, and the surrounding Assateague Island and Delmarva Peninsula in March–April and October 2014, after Hurricane Sandy. Micropaleontology samples were collected as part of a complementary USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program Sea-level and Storm Impacts on Estuarine Environments and Shorelines project study. For comparison with estuarine and overwash deposited foraminifera, a group of scientists from the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center in Massachusetts collected samples offshore of Assateague Island on the inner continental shelf during a seafloor mapping study in the summer of 2014 and shipped select samples to the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center. The micropaleontological subsamples analyzed for foraminifera at each site can be used to establish a foraminiferal baseline assemblage that takes into consideration the seasonal variability of the various species, regarding density and geographic extent, which are influenced by transient and stable environmental parameters. By understanding what parameters affect the various foraminiferal assemblages, researchers can delineate how alterations in salinity, temperature, or marsh-to-bay interactions, such as marsh erosion, might affect that assemblage.

Maryland, Virginia↗