Processed Continuous Resistivity Profiles Collected in the Neuse River, May3, 2005

The Neuse River Estuary in North Carolina is a broad, V-shaped water body located on the southwestern end of Pamlico Sound. This estuary suffers from severe eutrophication for which several water quality models have recently been developed to aid in the management of nutrient loading to the estuary. In an effort to help constrain model estimates of the fraction of nutrients delivered by direct ground-water discharge, continuous resistivity profile (CRP) measurements were made during the spring of 2004 and 2005. CRP is used to measure electrical resistivity of sediments, a property that is sensitive to difference in salinity of submarine ground water. The 2004 and 2005 surveys used floating resistivity streamers of 100 m and 50 m respectively. The depth penetration of the streamers is approximately 20% of the streamer length which translates to approximately 20-25 m with the 100 m streamer and 12-14 m with the 50 m streamer. These data were processed using AGI's EarthImager 2D software. CRP data enables the mapping of the extent and depth of the fresher ground water within the estuary.