| Abstract: |
The Lower Passaic River is a tidal estuarine waterway that empties into Newark Bay, the largest port on the east coast of the United States. The sediments of the Lower Passaic River are highly contaminated with a variety of organic chemicals and heavy metals including some of the highest concentrations of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorinated dibenzo-dioxin ever measured in the ambient environment. To assess the stability of these sediments this study examined historical changes in bathymetry using scanned US Army Corps of Engineers bathymetric surveys. Dates of surveys included 1949, 1966, 1973 and 1985. Data were rectified to Digital Orthophotos and corrected for tidal variations. Point locations were interpolated to continuous grids. Subsequent time period data layers were subtracted to produce bathymetric change grids. |