Charlotte Harbor
Sediment Cores
Type: Condition of habitat and sources affecting
habitat (i.e., the condition or functionality of the habitat).
Category: Submerged
Cost: approximately $100,000
Description: The data is meant to characterize the water
quality in the Charlotte Harbor, as it relates to organic loading.
Organic loading is thought to be potentially related to stratification-driven
bottom water hypoxia. The project seeks to determine historical
(pre-1960) rates of organic loading to Charlotte Harbor via the
use of dated cores retrieved from the bottom sediments of Charlotte
Harbor. Sediments will be dated based on Lead-210 decay rates,
and historical water quality will be inferred from concentrations
of nitrogen, phosphorus, biogenic silica, and phytoplankton pigments
in sediments.
Outcome: This project has not yet been completed.
Contact: David Tomasko, Ph.D. Senior Environmental Scientist,
Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Section, Southwest
Florida Water Management District.
Citation: The project is based on Gene Turner and
Nancy Rabalais' previous work on the Gulf of Mexico "Dead Zone"
and its relationship to nutrient concentrations in the Mississippi
River. There are probably a dozen or more relevant references
to this work.
|
