Benthic Habitat Mapping in Wellfleet Harbor and Vicinity
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Benthic Habitat Mapping in Wellfleet Harbor and Vicinity December 2019 Report prepared by the Coastal Processes and Ecosystems Laboratory at the Center for Coastal Studies Publication: 19-CL08 Acknowledgements Funding for this project was provided by the Town of Wellfleet, Shellfish Promotion and Tasting Incorporated (SPAT Inc.), and through a grant from the National Park Service and Cape Cod National Seashore. The authors would like to thank the Wellfleet Harbormaster’s Office for their invaluable support, the use of their dock, occasional helping hand and for their guidance navigating the rocks, shoals and bars of Wellfleet Harbor. The authors would also like to express their gratitude to Captain Ted Lucas who piloted Center vessels for all of the surveys conducted for this study, for his steady patience, capable helmsmanship, and invaluable insights that improved our shallow water survey techniques. Cover Image: R/V Marindin at the dock in Wellfleet Harbor. Photograph by T. Smith Suggested citation: Smith, T.L., Mittermayr, A., Legare, B., and Borrelli, M. 2019. Benthic Habitat Mapping in Wellfleet Harbor and Vicinity, Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown MA, Tech Rep: 19-CL04. p. 66. 3 Benthic Habitat Mapping of Wellfleet Harbor and Vicinity Table of Contents Page Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... 4 Figures.................................................................................................................................................... 6 Tables ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................. 10 Key Findings: ............................................................................................................................... 10 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 11 The Formation of Cape Cod and Wellfleet Harbor ...................................................................... 13 Wellfleet Harbor ...................................................................................................................... 16 Benthic Habitat Maps ................................................................................................................... 17 Methods ................................................................................................................................................ 18 Vessel-based Acoustic Surveys .................................................................................................... 18 Benthic Sampling ......................................................................................................................... 20 Field work ................................................................................................................................ 20 Biological Samples .................................................................................................................. 20 Sediment Samples ................................................................................................................... 21 Invertebrate sample processing ............................................................................................... 22 Seismic Reflection Profiling......................................................................................................... 24 Benthic marine habitat mapping framework ................................................................................ 25 Physical characteristics ............................................................................................................ 26 Biological characteristics ......................................................................................................... 28 Results .................................................................................................................................................. 30 Vessel-Based Acoustic Surveys ................................................................................................... 30 Seismic Reflection Profiling......................................................................................................... 32 Seismic Facies Identified ......................................................................................................... 33 Benthic Sampling ......................................................................................................................... 35 Benthic habitat mapping ............................................................................................................... 37 Physical characteristics ............................................................................................................ 37 Biological characteristics ......................................................................................................... 38 4 Benthic Habitat Mapping of Wellfleet Harbor and Vicinity Preliminary biotopes ................................................................................................................ 40 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................ 43 Vessel-based Acoustic Surveys .................................................................................................... 43 Identification of Eelgrass Habitat ............................................................................................ 44 Mapping Anthropogenic Features ........................................................................................... 46 Acoustic Survey Planning ....................................................................................................... 48 Sub-bottom Seismic Reflection Profiling ..................................................................................... 50 Gaseous Sediment ................................................................................................................... 50 Thickness of surface habitats ................................................................................................... 51 Benthic Habitat Mapping ............................................................................................................. 51 Data Analysis and Mapping Approach .................................................................................... 52 Mapping the CMECS Geoform Component ........................................................................... 52 Mapping the CMECS Substrate Component ........................................................................... 52 Mapping the CMECS Biotic Component ................................................................................ 53 Sources of Uncertainty ............................................................................................................ 54 Summary: ............................................................................................................................................. 55 Literature Cited .................................................................................................................................... 57 Appendix A .......................................................................................................................................... 61 Appendix B .......................................................................................................................................... 63 Appendix C .......................................................................................................................................... 67 Appendix D .......................................................................................................................................... 71 Appendix E .......................................................................................................................................... 73 5 Benthic Habitat Mapping of Wellfleet Harbor and Vicinity Figures Page Figure 1. Locus map of The Wellfleet Harbor study area (yellow). Red area (orange in mapped areas) is the Cape Cod National Seashore boundary. All boundaries are approximate. ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 2. End moraines (in black) in Cape Cod and southern Massachusetts. A. Buzzards Bay end moraine. B. Sandwich moraine. Moraines on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard mark the extent of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at the LGM in New England. Adapted from Schafer and Hartshorn (1965) with addition from Sirkin (1982). ........................................................ 14 Figure 3. A. The three lobes of the Laurentide ice sheet in the Cape Cod Region at approximately 21,000 BP) modified from Oldale and Barlow, (1986). B. Glacial Lake Cape Cod Bay and the formation of the plains of lower Cape Cod, at approximately 18,000 BP, (Poppe et al, 2007, Balco et al., 2009), modified from Oldale and Barlow (1986). .................................................................................................................................................. 15 Figure 4. Sediment transport