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Getting to the Bottom of Things

WHOI coastal geologist Jeff Donnelly analyzes hurricane activity through the traces they leave behind. In summer 2013 Donnelly and his lab members returned to a Cape Cod coastal pond that receives overwash from nearby beaches whenever storm-driven ocean water floods in and deposits layers of sediment. Using vibracorers, the team extracted a sediment core that will reveal a history of storms extending back thousands of years. From left to right: intern Brecia Douglas (Northeastern Univ.), Stephanie Madsen (WHOI), Richard Sullivan (WHOI), Donnelly (orange shirt), and summer student Shenandoah Raycroft. (Photo by Richard Sullivan, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)