ROW: Environmental and Quaternary Geophysics of Mid- Atlantic Coastal Region

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The Delmarva Peninsula is a particularly appropriate location for a research program in Environmental and Quaternary Geophysics. The rise and fall of sea level during the Quaternary is abundantly evidenced in this area by relict strandlines and barrier-spit deposits from previous relative sea-level maxima and buried paleochannels of the Susquehanna and Delaware river systems from several relative sea-level minima. These features have been identified and mapped offshore and in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays using marine seismic data. The continuation and geometry of these features on land can be estimated from well data where available but high-resolution seismic reflection data on land is required to accurately map them and to characterize their boundaries and internal structure in detail. The mapping and stratigraphic positioning of these features allow us to better reconstruct climatic change in the Quaternary and to understand the impact of sea-level rise or fall on coastal features. The paleochannels hold an additional interest environmentally, in that the coarse materials within the channels may act as preferred pathways for the transport of fluid media, including fluid contaminants.