Table A-3. Particle-size percentages by weight of suspended 
solids in the mudflow from a shell dredge (from 
May, 1973). 
Meters from Size range (pct by weight) 
discharge 
2. Organic Matter Content. 
Organic matter content of natural sediment samples tended to increase 
throughout the summer of 1973 from a low of 8.9 percent in June to values 
in excess of 11 percent in August and September (Table A-4). A comparison 
of mean organic matter values (Table A-5) showed that these differences 
between earlier and later samples were significant and may indicate sig- 
nificant importation of organic matter, which has settled out at Long 
Point from marshes lining the shores of the Patuxent watershed. These 
organic matter values are as high as those reported by Masch and Espey 
(1967) for Galveston Bay. 
Organic matter analyses were also conducted on the mineral solids. No 
significant weight loss from ashing was detectable in the fuller's earth 
solids. Substantial weight losses in the kaolinite (about 11 percent of 
dry weight) were attributed to loss of bound water (at temperatures of 
500° Celsius) associated with these paper-coating and pigment-extending 
clays (Michael Taranto, Georgia Kaolin Company, personal communication, 
LOS) ie 
3. Heavy Metals. 
The mineral solids contained metal amounts that were considered bio- 
logically insignificant (Table A-6). The values reported for Patuxent 
silt are in the "natural" range of metal amounts found in similar estuarine 
salinity ranges by Huggett (Virginia Institute of Marine Science, personal 
communication, 1973) in the York, James, and Elizabeth Rivers which drain 
into the Virginia part of the Chesapeake Bay system. 
36 
