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Humboldt Field Research Institute

Posted February 23, 1999

Federal Grant Supports Research on Biophysical Processes in Coastal Mud

A new federally funded University of Maine research project will help the U.S. Navy locate mines buried beneath the world's coastal waters and generate new information about the behavior of pollutants in those environments. In early February, the Department of Defense awarded $387,000 for the project which will be conducted by Larry Mayer, professor of marine sciences at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole.

The project is part of a $1.2 million grant administered by the Maine Science and Technology Foundation. Other successful projects include a study at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences on bacteria for potential use in bioremediation work and a project at the University of New England focusing on viral infections and dissolved matter in the sea.

All three projects are part of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, also known as EPSCoR. Since 1990, Maine scientists have successfully competed for about $11 million in EPSCoR funds.

“Over time, mines can be physically buried or acoustically hidden by the activities of worms in these environments,” says Mayer. “Our work will help understand this mixing process. It will also benefit pollution research by exploring how worms dissolve contaminants when they eat sediments in polluted harbors.”

Since the early 1990s, Mayer and his graduate students have conducted research on how pollutants are affected by the digestive chemistry of marine organisms. They have studied reactions between contaminants such as heavy metals and the digestive enzymes present in the guts of these organisms. This work promises to lead to better ways of detecting and cleaning up pollutants.

During the course of the project, Mayer and his colleagues will sample sediments around the Gulf of Maine and subject them to experiments with digestive emzymes. They will focus on the dissolution of natural radionuclides, a process which is similar to that for heavy metals.

The federal grant will also build a new analytical capability at the University with which to study the natural radionuclides in Maine sediments. “These radionuclides will enable us to study various aspects of sediment accumulation and mixing that affect other processes, such as nutrient exchange, pollutant burial, and various geological phenomena,” says Mayer.

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