Muddy Waters EarthCache
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Waypoint 11 on Going Coastal’s NY-NJ Harbor Estuary EarthDiscovery Trail in Liberty State Park, caches developed by Going Coastal, Inc. (www.goingcoastal.org) as a special project in affiliation with Groundspeak and support from the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission.
NOTE: THIS AREA MAY HAVE LIMITED ACCESS DUE TO DAMAGE FROM HURRICANE SANDY
The cache is near the street light post tagged with the word WYOMING, face north at the fence. The cache is an intertidal mudflat, a shallow-sloped shoreline, with an expanse of fine sediment that are flooded with each high tide.
The mudflat is nestled in a sheltered nook that is protected from wave action, called a cove. The lack of energy from the ocean waves entering the cove is the reason why the mud is allowed to build up and form the mudflat. The sediments which constitutes as mud are so small that if waves were able to reach the mudflats they would simply wash it out to sea. Mud requires a low energy environment in order to settle from suspension and form the mudflats we see.
The mud is dark and rich with nutrients that floats in with the tide twice a day. For sediments to be called mud, the particle size must be less than 1/16mm (silt size is 1/16 -1/125mm; clay is less than 1/125mm). Over time as more sediments accumulate on top of the mud, it exudes pressure on the mud which compacts it and force out any air and water trapped between its pore spaces. Cementation may then occur and the mud would be transformed from soft sediments to a hard mudrock.
Mudrocks make up 65% of all sedimentary rocks because of the parent mineral they are made from. The clay in mudrocks are altered from the most abundant mineral feldspar, which is unstable at surface condition. Black organic-rich mudrocks are sometimes referred to as "source rocks" for oil and gas. That's because some of the organic matter trapped inside the mud transformed into oil and gas as the mud was buried and warmed by the earth.
Though there is no oil and gas at this location, the mud over time with increase burial by other sediments can from many different rock types. The first is a sedimentary rock called a mudstone/mudrock. Mudrocks may or may not contain fissile shale laminated beds. Laminated means the rock has many thin layers and fissile means the rock can be spilt into thin pieces along these laminations. If the mudrock does contain fissile shale laminated beds, its commonly referred to as a shale. With increasing heat and pressure the mudrock will begin to metamorphose or change forms without melting. It will first become the metamorphic rock slate, then phyllite, then schist, and finally gneiss with pressure and temperature increasing with each rock-form.
The mudflat today is a place were fresh water from the Hudson River mixes with salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. This area were fresh water mixes with salt water is called an estuary. In the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary the mudflat is not the only place sediments are built up. Sediments are also deposited in channels and the salt marsh. When the rise in sea level outpaces a marsh’s maximum sustainable rate of accretion (speed of sediment build up), the marsh gradually submerges until it can no longer sustain vegetation and becomes mudflat, a fate referred to as “ecological drowning.” The process of the mudflat formation consists of three stages: deposition-consolidation, sweep-out and evaporation processes.
Hudson River silt continuously deposits and builds the intertidal mudflat wetland. The mudflats are devoid of vegetation, meaning there is no plant life growing in the mud. Despite its empty appearance, the mudflat is valuable as a habitat and feeding grounds for many species of wildlife.
The mudflats are devoid of vegetation, meaning there is no plant life growing in the mud. The mud is made of very fine sediment. A sheen of microalgae covers the surface and helps to trap sediment. The mud itself is home to bacteria, microscopic algae and a variety of invertebrates (soft bodied), such as clams, mussels, snails, fiddler crabs and worms that burrow into the muck. Shorebirds and waterfowl go here to feed.
If it is low tide, you will see the exposed layer of mud and narrow streams of water that flow through it. The surface is a muddy quicksand. Mudflats draw in pollutants and remove heavy metals from water, and therefore contain large concentrations of heavy metals. If you look at the surface of the mud you will see holes. Under the mud, burrowing crustaceans breathe oxygen through tubes at the surface.
Can you smell that smell? The smell is not sewage or pollution. The smell is gas from anaerobes, a bacterium that lives in the oxygen poor mud. The microbe gets gassy from digesting decaying organic matter and releases hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas that smells of rotten eggs.
If it is high tide, the mudflat will be underwater but you will still see phragmites, also called common reeds. There are native strains, but exotic invasive phragmites establishes a monoculture (low diversity ecosystem) and crowd-out native wetland grasses and plants. Its seeds were carried to the mudflat by wind and tide and the tall reed rapidly colonized the edge of the mudflat. Liberty State Park’s natural area has been invaded by other exotic species.
Intertidal mudflats are an important habitat in the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary ecosystems. The mudflats protect the water quality in the estuary and keep the shoreline from eroding. Shallow brackish water floods the mudflat with each tide. Stormwater runoff supplies freshwater to the mudflat. Stormwater runoff is the over flow or runoff water from rain downpours or snowmelt. Without the buffer of the mudflats, storm water can carry contaminants into the estuary, cause floods and affect groundwater. Mudflats are fragile habitats threatened by pollution, erosion and being submerged by rising sea levels.
Logging Activities:
1. Features like dinosaur footprints, skeletal remains, wave impression, and sea shells are found fossilized in rocks that were once soft sediments like the ones in the mudflats. These fossils can unlock what occurred in the past such as volcanism and even indicate environments. Getting as close to the mudflats as possible, observe and record as many of these features as you can and state what each one will reveal about the current environment.
2. Why does the sediment from the bay settle there? What would happen to the mudflat if it was subjected to prolong periods of turbulent waters?
Remember, to upload a photo and let us know in your log ways we can improve the trail. Be sure to visit the Harbor Estuary Discovery Trail at Inwood Hill Park.
To reserve a field trip for your class, please contact the educators at the Nature Interpretive Center at (201) 915-3409. Geomate Jr. GPS units will be provided for your group for your high-tech exploration of the geology and ecology of Liberty State Park. More information and additional resources are available online at www.goingcoastal.org (visit link)
We hope you enjoyed your exploration of Liberty State Park and the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary EarthCache Discovery Trail. This project is meant to help visitors develop a better understanding of the Estuary, build environmental knowledge and foster stewardship.
Data Sources:
Army Corp of Engineers - (visit link)
U.S. Geological Survey - (visit link)
Wikipedia - (visit link)
Mudflat image - oregoncoast.com
Name and Type of Land
Liberty State Park
200 Morris Pesin Drive, Jersey City, NJ 07305
Phone: (201) 915-3440
(visit link)
OWNER: NJ Department of Environmental Protection
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