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.

Surficial geologic maps play and important role in understanding the present sea floor and the processes that shape it. Between 1984 and 1991, over 1,700 bottom sample stations were occupied in the northwestern Gulf of Maine. Although the data were originally collected for a variety of research projects, contracts, and graduate student theses, they were eventually compiled as part of a Maine Geological Survey and University of Maine program to map the inner continental shelf of this region.

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.

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).

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 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.

The sediment data presented in this data layer were from a geochemical study sited in Great Bay estuarine system of New Hampshire. Textural data were used to support interpretations of trace metal distributions. The analog data were originally converted into digital form for inclusion in a Gulf of Maine Contaminated Sediments Database.

The coastal dunes, beaches, and inner neritic zone of the Merrimack Embayment constitute a petrologic province. In addition to heavy mineral analyses, grain size statistics were generated on most of the samples. Neritic and beach sediments can be differentiated using scatter plots of statistics, but statistical parameters are ineffective in differentiating between river and neritic sediments.

This is a part of the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) Seafloor Surficial Sediment (Deck 41) Data File. Deck 41 is an original data file created by the Marine Geology and Geophysics Group of NGDC from 1970-1975, abstracted from unpublished material contributed to NGDC by multiple groups of individuals. No updates of Deck 41 have been added since 1975. The data that comprise this portion of Deck 41 were generated by R.L. Wigley during 1965 aboard ALBATROSS IV cruises 65-2, 65-13, and 65-14.