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May 14, 2012

Stockton Harbor intertidal core sampling 5/13/12: Silvery mud, tarpaper, dead clams.

On May 13, 2012, friends of Penobscot Bay Ron Huber, Rob Levangie and Bob Huber 
carried out a core-sampling investigation of the intertidal mudflats of Stockton Harbor.
See photoessay, click here.

Route: The team started coresampling and digging near the low water mark, well 
out from the shore, and worked their way landward toward an eroding slump in the 
waste rich bluff upon which GAC Chemical perches above the beach and flats. They 
took 15 core samples, and  five digs with a clam  fork.

CLAM FORK RESULTS Large cluster of  mature dead clams (still with hinges) found
 near low tide line. Large pieces of tarpaper were also found buried in the mud  
near the low tide line; presumably blown into the flat from the roof of the  now 
vanished large quonset shaped building that once loomed over the flat above the  flat.

CORE SAMPLING RESULTS. Mud was tainted near shore, less to no alum taint was 
visible in the mud more than 20 yards out from shore, in the line of coring from the
low tide line 100yards offshore. Soft mud did not "core" well. Gray clays and sandy 
mud samples cored better.

RECOMMENDATIONS. Intensify core sampling close to shore; explore outer flats for 
additional tar paper wastes (tar paper a few inches below mud surface prevents clams 
and other organisms from settling). Collect dead clam shells for examination.





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