The sediment data contained in this set were produced as part of the site description and monitoring phases of an aquaculture demonstration project. The site is located off the coast of New Hampshire in the Gulf of Maine.

This data set contains sediment grain size and textural information from the Continental Margin Program. The program was a joint collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during the 1960s to conduct a geological reconnaissance investigation of the continental shelf and slope off the Atlantic coast of the United States. Only those records with complete size analyses are included in this data set. Other stations where only lithologic descriptions are available have been excluded.

Short cores were collected on the continental rise off Georges Bank. The character of the sediments and measured bottom currents show that the Western Boundary Undercurrent is a significant factor in sediment transport and deposition along the east coast continental rise. Size data for the sand and mud fractions were estimated by the compilers by subtracting the percent carbonate (composed largely of sand-sized planktonic foraminifera) from the coarse fraction. Silt and clay were not differentiated; the fine fraction is reported as mud.

The sediment data presented in this data layer were from an ecological study sited near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine. The analog data were originally converted into digital form for inclusion in a Gulf of Maine Contaminated Sediments Database.

The data in this layer are from a number of published and unpublished sets produced by the Bigelow Laboratory. The source projects were conducted primarily to examine contaminant (e.g. trace metals, PAHs) distributions, but also produced sediment textural data. The data were originally converted into digital format for inclusion in the Gulf of Maine Contaminated Sediments Database.

The sediment data presented in this data layer were from a geochemical study sited in Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire. The analog data were originally converted into digital form for inclusion in a Gulf of Maine Contaminated Sediments Database.

The sediments and geomorphology of a portion of the northeastern continental shelf between Hudson Canyon and Georges Bank have been investigated. Wave-cut terraces at 13, 45, 65, and 80 fathoms indicate four former low sea levels, while concentrations of beach ridges around 35 fathoms reveal a fifth. The pre-Holocene drainage pattern, still exposed over part of the area, shows that Block Channel was the main stream system which drained most of southern New England. The surface sediments on the western part of the study area are Late Pleistocene fluvial deposits. Overlying these coarse deposits in the central part of the outer shelf is a sandy silt facies that is also relict. The youngest facies and the only area of present deposition, is in the northeastern part where sand eroded from Nantucket Shoals is being deposited on the shelf.

Gravel, sand, silt, and clay contents were determined for samples from Narragansett Bay and the adjacent Rhode Island Shelf. In the Narragansett Bay system, clayey silt and sand-silt-clay are the most abundant sediments. Sand is abundant locally and on the inner shelf. In general, toward the lower passages of the Bay the sediments show a progressive change to coarser textures.

These data were collected as part of a survey of the bottom sediments of Georges Bank. The purpose of the survey was to provide basic data for use in studying the relationships between substrate composition and the occurrence of benthic animals, especially those which are common foods of fishes. Particle size composition was the principal sediment character that was studied.

Presented in this dataset are data determined from sediments collected by different means during a variety of cruises to the northwest Atlantic Ocean. These data have been collected in an attempt to gain knowledge of the interrelationships between early diagenesis and remineralization of organic matter, bioturbation, and dissolved ion exchange between sediments and the overlying water. All data are from surficial sediments (0-3 cm below the sediment-water interface).