Blue Carbon Accumulation, Paleoecology, Human Impact, and Sea Level History of Yellow Bar and JoCo Marshes, Jamaica Bay, New York City

Yellow Bar and JoCo represent two significant marshes in Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge in the lower Hudson Estuary. They are regional remnant marshes, and serve as nurseries for fish, coastal buffers in storms, and exceptional habitat for birds. In addition, they provide valuable paleoenvironmental archives. Through the last decade, we have focused field efforts on assessing the depths of the marshes through a series of probe transects and the acquisition of sediment cores upon which we utilize X-ray fluorescence (XRF) elemental analysis along with pollen, plant and foraminifera macrofossil analysis, and AMS C-14 dating of identified macrofossils. A major decline in inorganic supply to the marshes in recent centuries is evident in cores that span marsh initiation. Coupling carbon accumulation with regional and local shifts in vegetation and rates of sea level rise are presented along with the history of human impacts including heavy metals. Young investigators from secondary schools in New York City participated in much of the fieldwork as part of the NASA/GISS NYC Research Initiative.