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Out from the sediments, into the water

WHOI Chemist Carl Lamborg holds a Niskin bottle, which is used to collect water samples. During work conducted in Waquoit Bay in 2005, Lamborg, fellow chemist Matt Charette, and other WHOI colleagues found unusually high concentrations of dissolved total mercury in samples from the bay. A simultaneous investigation of groundwater suggested the source —submarine groundwater discharge pushing mercury out from the sediments. The research team is now examining water, soil, sediment and aquatic animals from other Cape Cod waters to determine whether all sandy coastal areas are delivering more mercury to the ocean than previously thought.
(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)