Chesapeake Bay Water Quality

Groundwater

Septic Nutrient Loading - Excerpt from MD WIP III Plan

Groundwater Protection Begins at Home - Poster

The Piedmont physiographic province in Maryland is located between the Blue Ridge and Coastal Plain provinces (figure 1). The Piedmont is underlain primarily by metamorphic and igneous crystalline rocks, with smaller amounts of sedimentary rocks. Over time the rocks have been folded, faulted, and fractured to varying degrees, and the region is commonly referred to as fractured-rock terrane (Nutter and Otton, 1969). The boundary between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain provinces is known as the Fall Line, and it separates the hard, fractured rocks of the Piedmont from the unconsolidated sediments of the Coastal Plain.

Maryland’s Coastal Plain aquifer system lies within the Atlantic Coastal Plain physiographic province which includes eastern and southern areas of Maryland (figure 1). A relatively thick wedge of largely unconsolidated sediments underlies Maryland's Coastal Plain. The sediments consist predominantly of sand, gravel, silt, and clay, ranging in age from Cretaceous to Quaternary, and overlie consolidated rocks of Precambrian, Lower Paleozoic, Jurassic(?), and Triassic age (Andreasen and others, 2013). The sediments dip gently to the east and southeast with thickness ranging from a few tens of feet near the Fall Line to approximately 7,200 ft at Ocean City, Maryland (figure 2).

Groundwater is the largest supply of freshwater on earth, and the biggest source of drinking water for the U.S. This unseen source, which exists under layers of soil, rock, and sediment, contains significantly more freshwater than rivers and lakes combined.

University of Maryland Extension has conducted quality educational programs for aquaculture development for over four decades. These have included outreach training for the production of finfish, shellfish and aquatic plants. Our longest running programs have encouraged the production of oysters and clams, which are important resources for economic growth, employment and the environment.

Oyster hatcheries have gained a detailed understanding of the oyster life cycle and critical components. They can manipulate conditions during certain periods of the oyster life cycle to extend their spawning season well beyond a natural spawning season, and they can augment production by providing highly suitable food and other conditions to maximize efficiency and production.