Journals 2006/2007

Anna Hilton
Jennie Moore Elementary, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

"Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction of Tidal Creeks in the Southeast Hollings Marine Laboratory, South Carolina" July 5, 2006 - August 18, 2006

Journal Index: March 25 - 26 July 5 - 6 - 14 - 17 - 18 - 19-1 - 19-2 - 25 August 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 18 Vocabulary Additional Resources

July 25, 2006
New Market Creek under the Arthur Ravenel Bridge

Attribution: C. Frank Starmer, (http://ravenelbridge.net)

I was excited that we would sample a creek nearby in Charleston, the historic city near our school in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Charleston was founded in 1670 and relocated in 1680 to the peninsula between the Ashley River and the Cooper River. Charleston became a shipping center during the late 17th and 18th centuries and is now the largest port in the southeast United States. New Market Creek flows right under our new bridge on the Cooper River. It was fun to look up and see the marvelous design of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge, but to look down and see old tires, car parts, bicycles, bottles, and other trash was not fun. I was very curious if we would find anything alive in the seine.

Old tires, bicycles, car parts, and other trash littered the marsh. I wondered what toxins were in the water that I could not see.

Our Crew met around 11:30 because the low tide we needed for sampling the creek was around noon that day. Guy had all the equipment laid out for the second day of the sampling trip to New Market Creek. I knew Sara Jones from the sampling we had done together in Brunswick. I met Ross Garner, graduate student and Logan Roberts, undergraduate student. Many of the students attend the College of Charleston. The team had taken water and soil samples the day before and had deployed the sonde.

Logan and Ross ready for the second day of sampling at New Market Creek

Today was the second day of the creek monitoring and I was eager to film the researchers pulling the seine. Guy has a Canon camera similar to mine and mentioned that he had bought a plastic cover for his camera so that he could take pictures underwater. I think that would be useful for protecting my digital camera while taking photos in the marsh. The walk to the marsh was easy and it was exciting seeing the bridge from the underneath.

It was interesting to see this side of the Author Ravenel Bridge as we walked to New Market Creek.

Guy used the GPS unit to find the location of the reaches and we made quick work of pulling the seine and bagging the samples at each reach. I look forward to comparing the data collected from this suburban creek winding through Charleston to the other creeks monitored in the Tidal Creeks Monitoring and Assessment Project.