Collaborative Research: Stratigraphic Controls on Freshwater Beneath the Continental Shelf

该项目将使用高分辨率多通道（MCS）和啁啾地震数据来表征玛莎岛大陆架沉积物的地层和沉积模式。马萨诸塞州的葡萄园。这些沉积物承载着广泛的淡水含水层，它与环境失去了平衡。这项研究将把这些地球物理方法与水文模型结合起来，以更好地描述这一独特含水层的分布、化学和就位机制。通过建模工作，将对在地质时期内影响这些含水层地下水流动的强迫机制进行定量预测。到目前为止，这种含水层还没有得到多少研究，它们可能为沿海海洋环境提供水和营养物的来源，因此是水循环的一个重要而被忽视的组成部分。更广泛的影响：淡水含水层可能成为沿海地区人类消费的重要资源。该研究将支持三个pi的每个机构的研究生。

This project will use high resolution multiple-channel (MCS) and chirp seismic data to characterize the stratigraphy and sedimentation patterns of continental shelf sediments off Martha?s Vineyard, Massachusetts. These sediments host an extensive freshwater aquifer which is out of equilibrium with its environment. The research will combine these geophysical methods with hydrological modeling to better describe the distribution, chemistry, and the emplacement mechanisms of this unique aquifer. From the modeling efforts quantitative predictions will be made of the forcing mechanisms that affect groundwater flow in such aquifers over geological time periods. Such aquifers have not received much study to date and could potentially provide a source of water and nutrients to marine coastal environments and thus be an important and overlooked component of the water cycle. Broader impacts: Freshwater aquifers as these could potentially serve as an important resource for human consumption in coastal regions. The research will support graduate students at each of the institutions of the three PIs.