The Hudson River Estuary, a stretch of the Hudson River from
Troy, N.Y. to its mouth in New York Harbor, has begun a new
stage of its life say geologists at Columbia University's
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Queens College in Flushing,
N.Y. Researchers at both institutions have found that, aside
from a few very specific locations, the estuary may have largely
stopped filling in with new sediment. "The Hudson has gone
through many stages of evolution," said Cecilia M. G. McHugh,
the lead scientist on the study being published in an upcoming
issue of the journal Geology. "Now it's entering a new phase."
Some new deposits are being laid down as a result of annual rise
in sea level, McHugh continued, but on the whole, the river is
at equilibrium. Every year the Hudson tributaries to the north
discharge sand and silt into the river. The sand is trapped
around islands and shoals near Kingston, while the silt washes
down into the Hudson River Estuary, filling areas where scouring
or dredging has occurred. Mo