Connecticut Harbors Project

Spatial Distribution of Metals in Connecticut Harbors
Connecticut coastal river and harbor sediments, due to their proximity to multiple sources of industrial and municipal wastewater within the watersheds, are often contaminated with metals of environmental concern.  Sediment metal contents in these environments typically vary as a function of sediment type and coastal harbors are characterized by a variety of sedimentary environments.  Knowledge of the current spatial variation of contaminated sediments in the harbor is essential as contaminated sediments are known to affect the distribution and quality of living estuarine and marine resources.  Since 2001, faculty and students from the Center for Coastal and Marine Studies have sampled and determined sediment metal contents from Norwalk, Bridgeport, New Haven, Branford and New London harbors.

The Connecticut Urban Harbors Project is designed to examine the physical characteristics and metal contamination in sediments within Connecticut urban harbors.  The goal of this study will be to test the following hypotheses: (1) physical properties of the river and harbor sediments will vary from fine-grain, high organic matter content in the inner reaches of harbors to coarser, low organic matter content in the outer harbor and LIS; (2) metal contamination will be highest in fine-grained high organic matter content sediment proximate to point sources of contamination; and (3) metal contamination throughout Norwalk Harbor will be greater than the extent of metal contamination in sediment sampled from LIS.

Research Objectives
Specific objectives of this research are to: (1) conduct a high spatial resolution sampling of the sediment representative of the entire length of the harbor areas; (2) measure the chemical [lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), and iron (Fe)] and physical [texture, grain size, organic carbon content (loss on ignition)] properties of the sediment; and (3) determine the extent of anthropogenic metal contamination in the sediment through a comparison of the results of this study with previous studies and other similar coastal rivers and embayments.

The harbor GIS maps allow the user to access sediment metal data from over 180 stations in Norwalk, Bridgeport, New Haven, Branford and New London harbors.  Use the GIS navigation tools to locate and zoom in to access data from a specific station in a harbor.

Stations in New Haven Harbor

Instructions
To view the harbor maps and access the data for each station you must first install ArcReader version 9.2. 

      • Once Downloaded >
      • Double-click the downloaded file titled BreslinHarborGISMap10_23.zip
      • Double-click the created folder titled BreslinHarborGIS10_23
      • Double-click on the pmf folder
      • Double-click on Breslin_Sample.pmf
      • The Connecticut Harbors map should now open
      • Use the GIS tool bar to navigate the map and access the data.
        • Click on the harbor to zoom in to view stations
        • Click the i (information) icon and then click the station to access the station data.

 

Harbor Station Data Information.
The data table for each station provides the sediment metal concentration in mg/kg for copper, manganese, lead, zinc, nickel and % for iron and sediment loss on ignition (LOI).  Also shown is the latitude and longitude for each station, the station number, and the harbor location.

The GIS Maps were prepared by Sean Garvey, Geography Department, SCSU

Acknowledgements:
Support for this work has been provided by Connecticut State University Faculty Research grants to Vincent Breslin.  Vincent Breslin has also received reassigned time from the Dean of the School Arts & Sciences at SCSU in support of this research.  Several student participants in this work were recipients of the Harry O. Haakonsen Research Fellowship.  The Center for Coastal and Marine Studies is supported by a generous grant from the Werth Family Foundation, Woodbridge, CT. 

Undergraduate and Graduate student participants in this research include:  Robert Nicholson, Kristin DeRosia, Matthew Cacopardo, Tina Titus, Erica Skirvin, James Santanelli, Joshua Conklin, Erica Ogalin and David Oshana.  In addition to individual students, results of class projects are included in the data.  Harbor sediment metal contamination studies were performed by students in EVE 533 Analytic Techniques and Instrumentation, MAR 250 Introduction to Coastal and Marine Pollution and HON 270 Science Along the Connecticut Coastline.