14 



NOAA Technical Report NMFS 140 



Sediment organic carbon 



The distribution of organic carbon in the bottom sedi- 

 ments of the region is depicted in Figure 8. Values for 

 sediment organic carbon content from samples were 

 low to moderate, ranging from less than 0.5% to slightly 

 over 7% (7.04). The major portion of the continental 

 shelf contains small amounts (< 0.5%) of organic car- 

 bon in sediments, with only small, discrete patches, 

 especially in the Southern New England shelf area, of 

 slightly greater amounts (0.5-1.99%). Organic carbon 

 content of sediments in the two slope subareas, Georges 

 Slope and Southern New England Slope, was somewhat 

 higher than on the shelf with values between 0.50 and 

 0.99% prevailing and with small areas on the Southern 

 New England slope containing from 1.00 to 1.99% or- 

 ganic carbon. The sediments in both the Gulf of Maine 

 and Long Island Sound contain comparatively larger 

 amounts of carbon, primarily in the 1.00 to 1.99% 

 range over most of their respective areas. Highest or- 

 ganic carbon content (from 2.00 to 7.04%) was almost 

 exclusively restricted to the major embayments and 

 estuaries within the study area; only offshore excep- 



tions to this were two small areas on Stellwagen Bank 

 and in the area known as Georges Basin, where organic 

 carbon contents in that range were found. 



Hydrography 



A substantial amount of information has been amassed 

 over the years concerning the hydrography of the off- 

 shore New England region. Some of the first hydro- 

 graphic data collected were temperature measurements 

 taken by Benjamin Franklin's nephew in 1789. Since 

 that time numerous studies have been conducted 

 primarily by government organizations, such as the U.S. 

 Fish Commission (subsequently named the U.S. 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, and currently called 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service), the U.S. Coast 

 Survey (now the National Ocean Survey), U.S. Coast 

 Guard, Tidal Survey of Canada, Biological Board 

 of Canada (Fisheries Research Board of Canada), coastal 

 states organizations, Bigelow Laboratory, Woods 

 Hole Oceanographic Institution, Harvard University, 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, L'niversity of 



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Figure 8 

 Geographic distribution <>l organic carbon in the bottom sediments. 



