38 



Other areas 



Buttermilk Bay core WBl (taken on the north end of the flood 

 delta) proved undesirable because 2 dense layers of sand occurred within 

 the core indicating this environment was disturbed or altered in the 

 past. A dense layer of sand at 15 appeared to coincide with dredging 

 nearby that occurred between 1943 and 1951 photographs. A layer of sand 

 at 40 cm may coincide with completion of the Cape Cod Canal nearby 

 around 1916 which caused a change in the hydrography of the bay 

 (Stevens, 1935). Core 2 was taken too close to shore, and rapidly 

 graded into Ruppia community, then salt marsh peat. The tops of these 

 cores, nonetheless, showed similar patterns of abundance as BB3 which 

 showed eelgrass declines at 12, 27 and 42 cm. 



In Buttermilk Bay, eelgrass was widespread prior to the wasting 

 disease (Stevens, 1935, 1936), and photographs show a broad recovery 

 during the 1940 's and 1950' s. Eelgrass was somewhat less abundant near 

 this core during the early 1960's, but has expanded since then. Given 

 these observations, and assuming rates of deposition are similar to 

 Waquoit Bay, it appears that the wasting disease began at 27 cm. If 

 sedimentation rates were similar prior to the wasting disease, the 

 earlier decline occurred =1903. 



The core at Naushon Island was insufficiently deep for comparison 

 to the other cores. This core was taken in a quiescent area 20 m from 

 an undisturbed, protected shore, with no local riverine inputs, 

 therefore sediment deposition rates may be very low here, and the 

 wasting disease may account for the decline in seed abundance at 18 cm. 

 This is supported by the observation that eelgrass declines at the 



