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Chebacco Lake, a 209 acre great pond located in the towns of Essex and Hamilton, MA, is an important fisheries habitat and recreational resource for the area. The lake is a Class B water body and used for swimming, fishing, water skiing and general recreation. However, siltation and the inflow of nutrients has resulted in the undesirable growth of aquatic macrophytic vegetation and a noticeable reduction in the quality and safety of the lake.
This project, which is under the auspices of the Department of Environmental Management, is to design a lake management program to protect water quality, control the growth of nuisance aquatic vegetation, enhance and protect alewife and other fisheries habitat, and improve public safety and recreational access to the lake. The responsibility of the Department of Geological Sciences, under the Direction of Dr. Jeanette Sablock and Dr. Peter Sablock, is to gather and interpret all geologic, geophysical, and geochemical data required for the study.
Student participating in the study are exposed to a range of geologic, geophysical, geochemical, general sampling, and mapping techniques including:
- Geologic investigations including surficial and bedrock mapping.
- Bathymetric and sediment thickness survey
- Bathymetric surveying using a recording fathometer with a resolution level sufficient to provide the data necessary to create a 1' contour-interval map.
- Acoustic sub-bottom profiling to obtain sediment thickness.
- Sediment core sampling and handling procedures.
- Physical and chemical analyses of sediment cores.
- Chemical and temperature analysis of lake waters
- GIS presentation of all data
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