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USGS Presents Cold Glaciers and Even Cooler Science at the Waquoit Bay Watershed Block Party on Cape Cod
The Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WBNERR) hosted its annual Watershed Block Party on August 8, 2006, at the reserve's headquarters on the south shore of Cape Cod, Mass. Participating in this exhibition of local research and environmental organizations were U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) contractors and employees Alex Sirotek, Brian Buczkowski, Nancy Soderberg, and Kathy Scanlon. Additional materials, activities, and live tunicates were provided by John Bratton, Dann Blackwood, Page Valentine, Jen Bonin, Larry Poppe, and Kate McMullen of the USGS and Mary Carman of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). At the USGS display table, Alex told Block Party visitors about tunicate biology and morphology and the animal's status as an invasive species (see URL http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/stellwagen/didemnum/). Children and adults were both fascinated and disgusted by these invaders, which look quite alien but, like humans, are members of the chordate phylum, having a notochord (primitive spinal chord) in their larval forms. Nearby, Kathy and Nancy stood watch over our "glacier," which was created by John Bratton. This glacier contained rocks, sand, and other natural erratics (fragments carried by glaciers and deposited on bedrock of different composition), as well as some semi-precious stones and USGS pens, pencils, and lanyards—not generally found in glaciers the world over. The kids had fun picking away at the ice to retrieve the treasures inside, while Kathy explained the miniature glacial features left behind as the sun and the children removed the ice, and Nancy told visitors about the role of glaciers in the geologic history of Cape Cod.
Back at the table, Brian conducted a grain-size-analysis activity in which participants identified the characteristics of a beach profile and speculated on why grain size and sorting were so different within samples taken from the same beach. This exercise was a big hit with children (and their adults), just as it had been the year before (see Sound Waves article, USGS Activities Rock the Waquoit Bay Watershed Block Party on Cape Cod). "Magic" quartz pebbles from Cape Cod beaches were provided again as souvenirs, along with an article about the pebbles' luminescence by USGS Geologist Emeritus Bob Oldale (see URL http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/staffpages/boldale/pebbles/).
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in this issue:
Mapping the Sea Floor Off Santa Barbara, CA
Manatee Traveler in Northeastern Waters Not Chessie Cat Parasite May Affect Cultural Traits in Human Populations
USGS Participates in Waquoit Bay Watershed Block Party
New Coastal and Marine Digital Library September 2006 Publications List  |
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U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
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