Environmental Studies Relative to Potential Sand Mining in the Vicinity of the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia

Part 1: Benthic Habitats and Biological Resources Off the Virginia Coast 1996 and 1997 / G. R. Cutter, Jr. and R. J. Diaz Part 2: Preliminary Shoreline Adjustments to Dam Neck Beach Nourishment Project Southeast Virginia Coast / C. S. Hardaway, Jr., D. A. Milligan, G. R. Thomas, and C. H. Hobbs, III Part 3: Nearshore Waves and Currents Observations and Modeling / J. D. Boon Part 4: Coastal Currents A. Valle-Levinson Part 5: Benthic Foraminifera and Ostracoda from Virginia Continental Shelf / T. M. Cronin, S. Ishman, R. Wagner, and G. R. Cutter, J

Final report to the Thomas Smythe Foundation, Inc. : concerning geophysical reconnaissance of a portion of the area offshore from Jamestown Island, Virginia

We undertook an acoustic survey of a limited area of the nearshore between the Virginia Department of Transportation Jamestown-Scotland Wharf Ferry Pier and Church Point along the north east shore of Jamestown Island (Figure 1). The project involved operating a sea-floor mapping system and a sub-bottom profiling system in shallow water. The surveys were performed on March 20 and 21, 1991, utilizing one of the Institute\u27s 28 foot long, outboard workboats

Sediments and Shallow Stratigraphy of a Portion of the Continental Shelf of Southeastern Virginia

A network of high-resolution, seismic-reflection profiles and grab samples of the surficial sediments of the inner continental shelf of southeastern Virginia demonstrate that the Quaternary geology of the region is more complex than indicated by earlier studies. The spatial variability of the surficial sediments depicts active processes, such as outflow from Chesapeake Bay, as well as the underlying geology in outcrops of finer grained sediments near False Cape. The complexity of the Quaternary geology results from large and small scale fluctuations in sea level. Individual, relatively large-scale, seismostratigraphic units are separated by erosional surfaces formed during the major changes in sea level that created the Cape Charles, iii iv Eastville, Belle Haven, and Exmore paleochannels in Chesapeake Bay. The low amplitude, high frequency variations in sea level that occurred during the midPleistocene impacted the inner shelf forming several thi~ depositional strata separated by local erosional surfaces. Substantial resources of sand exist on the inner shelf and are suitable for use in beach nourishment and construction aggregate. The deposits occur in three distinct stratigraphic settings: discrete shoals on the surface, filled channels, and laterally variable stratigraphic facies. The three types of filled paleochannels within the inner shelf have different origins: 1) riverine flow, 2) back-barrier or lagoonal channels, and 3) migration of (Holocene?) tidal inlets

Occurrence and distribution of shell in the vicinity of Parker\u27s Rock, Pocomoke Sound

This is a summary report on the investigation of the occurrence and distribution of shell in the vicinity of Parker\u27s Rock. Pocomoke Sound. The investigation was performed by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the request and with the financial support of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. The site (Figure 1) was selected. primarily. at the direction of the Commission. acting on the recommendation of its shell-dredging contractor and. secondarily. with supporting reconnaissance seismic data from VIMS

Acoustic Geology of a Portion of Virginia\u27s Innermost Continental Shelf

Side-scan sonography of the innermost continental shelf between Cape Henry and the Virginia-North Carolina border depicts a relatively typical inner shelf bottom generally characterized by medium density, meso-scale roughness. Subbottom acoustic protiles depict the stratigraphy as a Tertiary age basement separated from Quatenary-age deposits by a regional, angular(?) unconformity. Holocene-age sediments form a discontinuous layer above another unconformity. The area\u27s topography appears to be a function of the presence of the modern sediments.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsbooks/1102/thumbnail.jp

York Estuary Sediments

This report presents the results of the analyses of a suite of sediment samples that was collected from the York River Estuary, including portions of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers. Samples from the York were taken in November, 1991, the Pamunkey in December, 1991, and Mattaponi in February, 1992. The intent of the project was to obtain an archive of background and status information on the bottom sediments of the system

Myocyte enhancer factor 2C: an osteoblast transcription factor identified by DMSO enhanced mineralization

Free to read on publisher website Rapid mineralization of cultured osteoblasts could be a useful characteristic in stem-cell mediated therapies for fracture and other orthopaedic problems. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a small amphipathic solvent molecule capable of simulating cell differentiation. We report that, in primary human osteoblasts, DMSO dose-dependently enhanced the expression of osteoblast differentiation markers alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and extracellular matrix mineralization. Furthermore, similar DMSO mediated mineralization enhancement was observed in primary osteoblast-like cells differentiated from mouse mesenchymal cells derived from fat, a promising source of starter cells for cell-based therapy. Using a convenient mouse pre-osteoblast model cell line MC3T3-E1 we further investigated this phenomenon showing that numerous osteoblast-expressed genes were elevated in response to DMSO treatment and correlated with enhanced mineralization. Myocyte enhancer factor 2c (Mef2c) was identified as the transcription factor most induced by DMSO, among numerous DMSO-induced genes, suggesting a role for Mef2c in osteoblast gene regulation. Immunohistochemistry confirmed expression of Mef2c in osteoblast-like cells in mouse mandible, cortical and trabecular bone. shRNAi-mediated Mef2c gene silencing resulted in defective osteoblast differentiation, decreased ALP activity and matrix mineralization and knockdown of osteoblast specific gene expression, including osteocalcin and bone sialoprotein. Flow on knockdown of bone specific transcription factors, Runx2 and osterix by shRNAi knockdown of Mef2c suggests that Mef2c lies upstream of these two important factors in the cascade of gene expression in osteoblasts

Pliocene and Pleistocene depositional environments on the York-James Peninsula, Virginia; a field guidebook

The late Cenozoic deposits of southeastern Virginia represent a wide variety of depositional environments and record numerous marine transgressions. The formations range in age from Miocene to Holocene. This fieldguide provides an opportunity to visit and sample highly fossilferous marine bay and fluvial-estuarine sediments exposed in river bluffs and borrow pits on the York-James Peninsula

Geological and benthic evaluation of sand resources in the lower Chesapeake Bay, Report 2, Tail of the Horseshoe : Final Report v.1

This is the second of two reports concerning the resources of sand in the lower portions of Chesapeake Bay. The first, Geotechnical and Benthic Evaluation of Sand Resources in the Lower Chesapeake Bay (Kimball and others, 1989), presents a study of the resources in Thimble Shoal. The present work is a study of the area known as Tail of the Horseshoe which is just east of Thimble Shoal (Figure 1). The deposits of sand described in this report will be of most interest to the communities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach

Geological and benthic evaluation of sand resources in the lower Chesapeake Bay, Report 2, Tail of the Horseshoe : Appendix

Appendices to the final report with data and core information: York Spit Channel Sand Inventory Data Thimble Shoals Channel Tail of the Horseshoe Cape Henry Channel data from benthic evaluation listing of species collected in quantitative box cores sediment profile imagery station location