The Madison-Hills Paleoecology Project ("MPEP")

Introduction

The MPEP is a privately funded endeavor that will drill and sample the layers of soft sediment that have accumulated in the deepest part of Big Pea Porridge Pond ("BPPP") in Madison, New Hampshire during the past +/- 14,000 years. The purpose of the work is to scientifically analyze, technically describe/catalogue, and radiocarbon/proxy date these progressively deposited materials to establish the ecologic change-sequence history of the Pond's basin since the departure of the last ice sheet. The work described above will begin in late January or early February 2008 and be completed by late Spring or Summer 2008.

Scientific Basis of the MPEP

Lake-bottom sediments represent the most continuously detailed records of post-glacial (Pleistocene to Holocene) climate and environmental change available, and such records provide the best long term context for the dramatic physical and biological/ecological changes that have occurred during what has become to be known as the "Anthropocene" period (time since the beginning of extensive human habitation).

Who's Involved

The scientific staff of MPEP includes the following individuals, all of whom are donating their professional expertise to the project:

P. Thompson Davis, Ph.D., Dept. of Natural & Applied Sciences, Bentley College.
Brian Fowler, Quaternary Scientist, Project Director.
Lee Pollock, Ph.D., Dept. of Biology, Drew University.
Lisa Doner, Ph.D., Center for the Environmental, Plymouth State University



Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Depth Sounding Through Ice Fishing Holes




A group of local ice-fishing folks have set up two bob-houses pretty close to the deep spot estimated from Dennis Deschene's summer depth finder observations. A conversation with them on Saturday revealed that, using their hand-held depth sounder, they had located at least one spot in excess of 48 ft. On Monday, we took advantage of some of their ice fishing holes to generate a depth profile of this area. Having reopened each hole using a crowbar, Sylvia then lowered a weighted line until it touched bottom (as best we could tell), and we recorded the depths observed. While our results don't line up with the fisherman's data precisely, we may not have been using exactly the same locations that they did. Drawing in best-estimate depth contour lines within the pattern of depths recorded, we now have a better idea of where to drill our exploratory holes just before the actually coring gets started on March 8. - Lee Pollock

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