SGER: The Chesapeake Bay Region's Response to Late-Cenozoic Isostatic Uplift, Subsidence, and Tectonism

This project, funded under the auspices of the Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program, is an exploration of sediment cores extracted from the Hybla Valley, a deep paleo-valley of the Potomac River. This investigation is intended to determine if the site and the cores preserve a record of glacial-induced sea level change in the region. This research is a collaboration among scientists from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the U.S. Geological Survey who will conduct x-ray fluorescence analyses on the cores.

The research could have broad impact on the wider science community and catalyze new thinking in issues surrounding climate by offering a new perspective on old and knotty scientific problems surrounding sea level variability. The activities fit well into the potentially transformative, high risk, and exploratory nature of the SGER program.