Underwater in Salem Sound Lecture Series
April 15 @ 7:00 pm
Legacy Nutrients Below: Sediment’s Role in Salem Harbor Water Quality
Presentation description:
Since 2010, Brad has been investigating the water quality of Salem Harbor in collaboration with Salem Sound Coastwatch. What started as a simple question about water clarity changes has led to a multi-decade partnership and fascinating continuous research. Our 2022 Underwater in Salem Sound lecture focused on phytoplankton blooms as the cause of decreasing water clarity (https://salemsound.org/salem-sound-water-quality/). We now look to the nutrient conditions and sources that influence those blooms. We hope to illuminate the role of the phosphorus and nitrogen sequestered in the sediments of Salem Harbor as a likely and under-studied source of nutrients and share what we’ve found about the dynamics that influence the bioavailability of N and P in pore and bottom waters.
Speaker bios:
Dr. Brad Hubeny, Professor and Lab Director at Salem State University
Brad is an environmental geoscientist who utilizes stratigraphic, geomorphic, geochemical, and geophysical techniques to reconstruct past environmental and climatic conditions. He primarily works in coastal and lake systems, and current research locations include Walden and Sluice Ponds, as well as Salem, Duxbury, Kingston, and Plymouth Harbors in Massachusetts. Generally, Brad is interested in high-resolution records of climate variability during the Late Holocene and in pollution reconstructions (heavy metals, eutrophication) from industrialized watersheds.
Renee Veresh, Lab Manager and Researcher at Salem State University
Renee is an environmental geochemist with over ten years of experience in the field and lab. She currently manages the Viking Environmental Stable Isotope Lab at Salem State. Her research interests are broad, ranging from paleoclimatology to nutrient cycling, though she is usually involved in several water quality projects at once in partnership with SSCW, MassBays NEP, or Center for Coastal Studies (sometimes all three!).
For the past fourteen years, Underwater in Salem Sound has been jointly sponsored by Salem Sound Coastwatch and Abbot Public Library. All the lectures are free and open to the public. An upcoming lecture will be on May 20.