Date of Award

Spring 6-9-2026

Document Type

Thesis (Undergraduate)

Department

Earth Sciences

First Advisor

Meredith Kelly

Second Advisor

Robert Hawley

Abstract

Reflection events within ground penetrating radar (GPR) and CHIRP seismic data are commonly used to infer changes in stratigraphy in lake basins. My thesis provides ground truth for these data by correlating reflection events to measured changes in sediment characteristics including composition and density. My focus is Little Lake Sunapee (LLS), located in central New Hampshire, which contains sediments deposited during and after the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), during late Pleistocene and Holocene time. These sediments provide a record of post-glacial climate and environmental change.

I present detailed coverage of the LLS sub-bottom sediment stratigraphy based on 20 km of GPR profiles and 50 km of high-resolution CHIRP seismic profiles. These profiles are the basis for a stratigraphic framework, from the time of deglaciation during the late Pleistocene to the modern environment. Sediment cores measuring ~5-m long were collected from locations that align with coincident GPR and seismic profiles, in areas key to understanding the erosional and depositional features inferred from the lake sediment stratigraphy. I compare the sediment characteristics including composition, density, magnetic susceptibility, and age with events observed in the reflection data. I finally propose a cross section for a partial east-west transect of LLS. Overall, I aim to improve the ability to use GPR and CHIRP seismic data to infer changes in lake stratigraphy and sedimentology and, ultimately, to use the combination of these methods to infer past climate and environmental change from lake-sediment records.

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