Beatrice O'Hara of Delaware Geological Survey presented a poster titled "Sediment Carbon Stock, Accumulation Rates and Potential Erosion-Induced Carbon Emissions in the Delaware Bay Tidal Salt Marshes" at "The Earth's Carbon Cycle in the 21st Century: Climate, Ecosystems, and Energy," held April
The Delaware Geological Survey released a new technical report entitled “Hydrogeology of a Rapid Infiltration Basin Systems at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware” which was prepared by A. Scott Andres and Changming He of the Delaware Geological Survey, Edward Walther of the South Water Management District, Florida, and Müserref Türkmen of the Izmir Water and Sewerage Administration, Turkey, and DGS Bulletin 21B documents the results of a detailed study of groundwater and hydrogeology at a rapid infiltration basin system.
Peter P. McLaughlin Jr., of the Delaware Geological Survey, presented two papers at the 2015 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), November 1-4, Baltimore.
Three University of Delaware scientists are studying tidal water flow and sediment movement in a Kent County salt marsh to better understand changes to the marsh ecosystem due to a rising sea level.
Marshes reduce storm flooding, filter contaminants out of water and provide habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife. However, these environmentally critical areas have decreased in extent along the coast in recent decades, and UD researchers are working to better understand the factors that affect marsh stability—especially in the face of sea level rise.
Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) scientists have uncovered hard proof of faults in northern Delaware, indicating the occurrence of earthquakes millions of years ago.
Delaware Geological Survey improving groundwater monitoring efforts with new wells, sampling. Scientists are digging for answers about the amount and quality of water available underground in central Delaware, where ongoing development will put increasing demands on water supplies in the coming decade.
The Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) is installing 7,700 feet of wells at eight sites in southern New Castle and northern Kent counties to improve groundwater-monitoring efforts, supported by a $600,000 grant from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and populations there are projected to continue expanding.
The complex geologic history of the surficial units of the Harbeson Quadrangle is one of deposition of the Beaverdam Formation and its subsequent modification by erosion and deposition related to sea-level fluctuations during the Pleistocene. The geology is further complicated by periglacial activity that produced dune deposits and Carolina Bays scattered throughout the map area.
In 2000, A. Scott Andres, a senior scientist and hydrologist with the Delaware Geological Survey, released findings that disclosed a unique formation at the swamp.
In geologic time, the swamp isn't that old.
It formed about 22,000 years ago in a fresh-water, cold-climate marsh and boreal forested swamp.
Organic matter started building up and a cold wind blew in silt, clay and sand from nearby dunes and surrounding high ground. More sediment washed in with runoff from streams.
Thin sheets of sand likely spread during times when the land thawed.
Conditions began to change about 10,000 years ago as the climate warmed, forming a temperate-forested swamp, bog and flood plain.
There was more erosion and movement of organic-rich sediment to the fresh-water swamp. Today, it's considered the northernmost Southern forest on the East Coast.
