Student Theses

Kaitlin Johnson
"I am looking to quantify the volume of Anthropocene sediment storage in valley bottoms of selected New England watersheds. My research will focus on the South River watershed in Western Massachusetts and the Sheepscot River watershed along coastal Maine, both with high densities of historic milldams. Through using field measurements, lidar terrace mapping and measurements, analysis of historical records, and radiocarbon dating I can determine volumes of Anthropocene sediment in these watersheds."
"I am looking to quantify the volume of Anthropocene sediment storage in valley bottoms of selected New England watersheds. My research will focus on the South River watershed in Western Massachusetts and the Sheepscot River watershed along coastal Maine, both with high densities of historic milldams. Through using field measurements, lidar terrace mapping and measurements, analysis of historical records, and radiocarbon dating I can determine volumes of Anthropocene sediment in these watersheds."

Beth Ames
“My research involves mining rates of erosion and sedimentation across the northeastern United States in order to see if rates vary between timescales and between regions with differing glacial histories. This project attempts to put legacy sedimentation rates and volumes into their respective regional erosional contexts.”
“My research involves mining rates of erosion and sedimentation across the northeastern United States in order to see if rates vary between timescales and between regions with differing glacial histories. This project attempts to put legacy sedimentation rates and volumes into their respective regional erosional contexts.”

Sam Dow
“My research focuses on understanding the impacts on the sediment budget resulting from two generations of damming on the South River in western Massachusetts. I am attempting to trace sediment stored behind the Conway Electric Dam (built in 1906) to upstream mill pond and glacial sources using grainsize and geochemical signatures. This will lead to a quantification of relative contributions of sediment being eroded off of channel banks during the 20th century.”
“My research focuses on understanding the impacts on the sediment budget resulting from two generations of damming on the South River in western Massachusetts. I am attempting to trace sediment stored behind the Conway Electric Dam (built in 1906) to upstream mill pond and glacial sources using grainsize and geochemical signatures. This will lead to a quantification of relative contributions of sediment being eroded off of channel banks during the 20th century.”

Sam Feibel
"For my thesis I will be reconstructing the pre-settlement paleoenvironment of the valley bottom at Piney Run using a variety of survey techniques including geophysics and sediment cores. A major goal of my thesis is to understand the periglacial geomorphological processes that formed the topography of the site prior to European settlement, and in turn quantify historic sediment and inform restoration based on the underlying, undulatory landscape."
"For my thesis I will be reconstructing the pre-settlement paleoenvironment of the valley bottom at Piney Run using a variety of survey techniques including geophysics and sediment cores. A major goal of my thesis is to understand the periglacial geomorphological processes that formed the topography of the site prior to European settlement, and in turn quantify historic sediment and inform restoration based on the underlying, undulatory landscape."