Welcome to the web site for Sediment and Solute Transport on Rivers and Margins (SSTORM) Research Group! Reide Corbett and J.P. Walsh from East Carolina University and the UNC Coastal Studies Institute lead the team.
Check out our research in/on wetlands, estuaries, barrier islands, shelves and groundwater.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Sun Sets on the Sunshine Shift

Still happy despite being sun blasted.

A busy, muddy deck...a beautiful sign of successful geological research.

A typical Gulf of Mexico view.  Oil rigs are everywhere you look.

Fishing remains a huge industry in the Gulf due to the fertile waters.
4 August 1800

After only 6 hours on watch, the day shift is looking pretty haggard... but in a good way.  The sun and heat have been relentless, and the work on deck hasn't stopped.  But, despite being muddy and sweaty, they wear big smiles and show no signs of slowing down.  A huge benefit for all of us is that the sea conditions have been ideal as you can see from the pictures above.

The cores continue to come up full, and we are very happy with our results thus far.  We are seeing the same stratigraphic layers we samples on previous cruises with two important changes: 1)  a thin layer (about an inch) of deposition from the 2011 flooding has been draped over most of the area and 2) the benthic organisms have continued to stir the sediments, slowly erasing the seabed record of the Gulf's great hurricanes (e.g., Katrina).  So far, our expectations are being confirmed, but we'll see what the coming days have to offer.

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