of enlarging the Delaware-Chesapeake Canal utilized a scaled physical 

 model of Delaware Bay. 



Marine Mining 



The tapping of offshore mineral resources is growing year by year as new 

 technologies permit mining operations to move into the oceans and Great 

 Lakes. The demand for sand and gravel is generating much offshore activity, 

 the environmental impact of which is not clearly understood. To provide 

 such information, the Office of Sea Grant has funded the investigation of 

 ecological effects of sand and gravel operations. This study has subsequently 

 expanded into an interagency program involving NOAA, the Corps of En- 

 gineers, USGS, and EPA. Information will be acquired before, during, and 

 after mining operations to evaluate the potential changes in currents, shore 

 processes, and the ecosystem in general. 



One such program is being conducted by NOAA's Marine Minerals Tech- 

 nology Center in cooperation with the State of Massachusetts and the Uni- 

 versity of New Hampshire. The objectives of this project include the devel- 

 opment of the capability to predict environmental effects of mining opera- 

 tions and, subsequently, to establish control techniques for industrial develop- 

 ment of extraction systems compatible with the envirorunent. The Center has 

 similar programs aimed at defining the ecological impact of heat, wastes, tur- 

 bidity, sediment displacements, bathymetric alterations, and other known 

 and as yet unknown side effects of marine mining. 



Physical and mathematical models of coastal and estuarine areas are seeing increased 

 application in the Federal Ocean Program. Here, a Corps of Engineers scientist works 

 on a hydraulic model of the Texas coast near Galveston; storm surges, tides, and 

 tidal currents are simulated by a wave generator. 



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