VIMS

Research Programs

The strength of our research is its interdisciplinary focus on physical, geological, and chemical processes. Physical aspects include studies of water motion in estuaries and on the continental shelf, and associated transport of buoyancy, suspended particles, nutrients, and pollutants. Geological research spans the full range of marine and nearshore environments, from coastal plains and river floodplains, through estuaries, and across the continental margin to the base of the continental rise. In the chemical sciences, we work across groundwater, riverine, estuarine, continental-margin, and open-ocean environments to better understand the cycling of organic materials (both natural and anthropogenic) and both major and trace elements.

Selected Recent Projects
CHSD: Coastal Hydrodynamics and Sediment Dynamics
  • MUD BED: A real-time observing system to study the dynamics of muddy coastal environments
  • NSF CAREER: Sediment dynamics of a microtidal partially-mixed estuary
  • NSF BITMAX: Bio-physical interactions in the turbidity maximum
  • ONR STRATAFORM: Strata formation on continental margins
  • ONR MBP: Mine burial prediction modeling
  • NSF NEW ZEALAND: The role of spatially complex shoreface roughness in sediment transport
  • USDA LAGOONS: Fate of reactive nitrogen derived from agricultural sources
Geochronology - Sediment Geochronology and Seabed Processes
Observations and Modeling
Shoreline Studies
Tides, Storm Surge, and Sea-Level Rise
Archived Projects
  • 3D - VIMS Hydrodynamic Eutrophication Model (HEM-3D)
  • Beach Erosion Hotspots: Nearshore investigations in Virginia and North Carolina
  • CAST - Contaminant and Sediment Transport Project on the York River System
  • DCERP: Estuarine Monitoring and Research Program
  • Dredging Impacts - Offshore Shoals at Maryland/Delaware Border
  • DOMINO-Dissolved Organic Matter in the Ocean
  • DUCK - Shoreface Suspended Sediment Transport
  • Elizabeth River - Transport and Fate of Sediment / Contaminants
  • GANGES - Ganges Brahmaputra Delta
  • MEQ - Harbor Processes / Marine Environmental Quality
  • New York Bight - Contaminants and Marine Geology in the New York Bight
  • ORGANIC - Organic Matter in Chesapeake Bay
  • Outer Banks, NC (Duck): Nearshore morphodynamics and geological framework
  • PAPUA NEW GUINEA - MARGINS Study
  • SEABED - Harbor Processes / Seabed Component
  • STRATAFORM - Strata Formation on Margins
  • Waiapu: Sediment Dispersal off a High-yield River
  • York River (MUDBED): A real-time observing system for study of muddy seabed deposition, reworking, and resuspension
  • YORK SALINITY - York River Salt Intrusion Study