Reports
The sediments of Chesapeake Bay
1953, Ryan, J.D.
Bulletin 12
Preface
The Maryland Board of Natural Resources first called attention to the lack of knowledge concerning the nature of the sediments that have been deposited upon the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, despite the effect these sediments might have upon the natural resources of the Bay. A committee of the Board was appointed to formulate a plan for carrying out an investigation of these sediments. The plan required facilities for securing core samples from the bottom of the Bay and facilities for a petrographic study of the material of the cores. Fortunately an investigation of the waters of the Bay had been initiated at that time under the Chesapeake Bay Institute. The Director of the Institute, Donald W. Pritchard, Assistant Professor of Oceanography at The Johns Hopkins University, very generously cooperated in the project by equipping the Institute with the necessary sampling apparatus and having the crews on the Institute’s boats do the sampling. The study of the cores was an investigation in the field of sedimentary petrography. The facilities and personnel for such an investigation were available to the Department of Geology, Mines and Water Resources. The investigation was undertaken for the Department under the supervision of Associate Professor Judson L. Anderson by Dr. J. Donald Ryan, of the Department of Geology of The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Anderson was no longer available soon after the work started and the project was carried on ably by Dr. Ryan alone. However, in the interpretation of the results and the preparation of the report, Dr. Ryan had the valuable advice and guidance of Dr. Francis J. Pettijohn, an outstanding authority in the field of sedimentary petrology, who in the meantime had been appointed Professor of Geology at The Johns Hopkins University. Others who cooperated with Dr. Ryan in various aspects of his investigation were Professor Pritchard and Mr. Maurice Powers of the Chesapeake Bay Institute, Dr. Robert M. Overbeck of the Department of Geology, Mines and Waters Resources, Mr. Druid Wilson of the Department of Geology of The Johns Hopkins University, and Mr. Carl Supp, geologist for the J. E. Greiner Construction Company.
The cost of the coring and sampling was borne entirely by the Chesapeake Bay Institute. The funds for the petrographic investigation and preparation of the report were provided by the Maryland Department of Tidewater Fisheries.
The contribution of Bulletin 12 to the hitherto practically unknown sedimentology of the Chesapeake Bay has been possible, therefore, through the voluntary scientific, technical, and financial cooperation of those agencies and persons in carrying through the project for the Board of Natural Resources.
-Joseph T. Singewald, Jr., Director
