Author(s): Gerard P. Lennon; Douglas Allen; C. Lee Mcilvaine; Bobb Carson
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Abstract: The Ketle Creek embayment is located in the northwest part of Barnegat Bay, New Jersey and is typical of shallow bays behind North America's east coast barrier island system. Understanding the bay ecology as well as the physical and chemical environment have been the focus of many recent studies. However, the distribution, direction and flow rate of water movement between the bay and the underlying aquifer have not been adequately determined. This flow rate is required to properly understand bay circulation patterns and distributions of salinity, nutrients, and contaminants. The pore pressure within shallow, relatively fine-grained sediments was measured in a small bay at the mouth of Ketle Creek in the northwest part of Barnegat Bay using a Portable, In-Situ Pore Pressure Instrument (PISPPI) developed by the authors. The flux rate is the product of hydraulic conductivity and gradient. Numerous sediment cores were obtained to determine sediment properties. About 10 gallons per minute are estimated to flow up into the embayment (approximately 20 million square feet) through the silt and clay cap that was found at all stations. This contribution to flow is called difuse recharge e.g. recharge spread over a large area. Additional recharge may occur from concentrated flux from springs or seeps which will be located and measured in the future to obtain a total flow rate, which can then be compared to groundwater flow model predictions. Predicted groundwater flow rates wil allow an increased understanding of conditions such as salinity and nutrient levels within the bay that are essential to ecosystem analysis and management.
Year: 1997