Shaded-relief GeoTIFF image of a portion of Cape Cod and the surrounding sea floor

In order to test hypotheses about groundwater flow under and into estuaries and the Atlantic Ocean, geophysical surveys, geophysical probing, submarine groundwater sampling, and sediment coring were conducted by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists at Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) from 2004 through 2006. Coastal resource managers at CCNS and elsewhere are concerned about nutrients that are entering coastal waters via submarine groundwater discharge, which are contributing to eutrophication and harmful algal blooms. The research carried out as part of the study described here was designed, in part, to help refine assumptions required by earlier versions of models about the nature of submarine groundwater flow and discharge at CCNS. This study was conducted in four phases, with a variety of field techniques and equipment employed in each phase. Phase 1 consisted of continuous resistivity profiling (CRP) surveys of the entire study area conducted in 2004. Phase 2 consisted of CRP ground-truthing via resistivity probe measurements and submarine groundwater sampling from hydraulically-drive piezometers using a barge in the Salt Pond/Nauset Marsh area in 2005. Phase 3 consisted of supplemental detailed CRP surveys in the Salt Pond/Nauset Marsh area in 2006. Finally, Phase 4 consisted of sediment coring and porewater extraction in the Salt Pond/Nauset Marsh area later in 2006 to supplement the 2005 sampling.