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Gail C. Kineke

Associate Professor 
Department of Geology and Geophysics
Boston College

Research Interests:
Marine sediment transport, coastal oceanography and estuarine processes

My research interests pertain to sediment transport in coastal environments and are aimed at
understanding how physical processes (those associated with rivers, waves, tides, and currents) move
sediment, transform the coasts, and deposit sediment in the marine environment. Transport of fine
sediments is of interdisciplinary importance; for example, many chemical species, including some
pollutants and PCBs, have an affinity for fine particles and may go through cycles of adsorption
and desorption with repeated resuspension, mixing, and deposition in estuarine and coastal
settings.

In order to better understand these processes and to evaluate sediment transport models,
development and use of a wide range of instrumentation is required for simultaneous
measurement of the flow, water properties, and suspended sediment. The instrumentation
includes a combination of current meters, CTDs, optical sensors for measuring suspended
sediment, and water samplers.

I have worked in estuarine, nearshore, and inner continental shelf environments including San
Francisco Bay, CA, the Hudson River, NY, the Satilla River, GA, the ACE Basina and 
Winyah Bay, SC, the Amazon River and adjacent coast and continental shelf, the inner
shelf of the Gulf of Mexico and the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea. Of particular interest
on the Amazon shelf and some other estuarine environments is the presence of fluid muds, or
suspensions of extremely high sediment concentrations. Fluid muds behave quite differently
from lower concentration suspensions and have a significant influence on the transporting flow
and seabed/water column exchange processes.

Current Research Projects:

• A study on the shallow shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, west of the Atchafalaya

River, LA, examines the effect of fluid muds on wave attenuation and subsequent sediment
transport along this muddy coast.
• A current study is examining sediment transport and trapping in three estuaries in the

southeastern United States.
• Research on the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea is investigating the transport of sediment down a

submarine canyon.
• Research in the Adriatic Sea focuses on sediment transport and dispersal from rivers draining 
  the Apennine Mountains in Italy.

Course Information:

 GE157 Oceanography

GE380 Environmental Oceanography

GE518 Estuarine Processes

GE530 Marine Geology

GE535 Coastal Processes

Orton, P.M., and G.C. Kineke, 2001.  Comparing Calculated and Observed Vertical Suspended-
Sediment Distributions from a Hudson River Estuary Turbidity Maximum.  Estuarine, Coastal and
Shelf Science, 52:401-410.

 Blake, A.C., G.C. Kineke, T.G. Milligan, and C.R. Alexander, 2001. Sediment trapping and transport
in the ACE Basin, South Carolina. Estuaries, 24:721-733.

 Milligan, T.G., G.C. Kineke, A. Carlson, C.R. Alexander, and P.S. Hill, 2001. Flocculation and Sedimentation
in the ACE Basin, South Carolina. Estuaries, 24:734-744.

Kineke, G., K.J. Woolfe, S.A. Kuehl, J. Milliman, T. Dellapena and R.G. Purdon, 2000.  Sediment export
from the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea: Evidence for a divergent dispersal system.  Continental
Shelf Research, 20:2239-2266.

Ogston, A.S., D.A. Cacchione, R.W. Sternberg, and G.C. Kineke, 2000. Storm and river flood-driven
sediment transport on the northern California continental shelf. Continental Shelf Research, 20:2141-2162.

Allison, M.A., G.C. Kineke, E.S. Gordon and M.A. Goni, 2000. Development and reworking of an
annual flood deposit on the inner continental shelf off the Atchafalaya River. Continental Shelf
Research, 20:2267-2294.

Blanton, J., C. Alexander, M. Alber, and G. Kineke, 1999.  The Mobilization and deposition of
mud deposits in a coastal plain estuary.  Limnologica, 29:293-300.

 Geyer, W.R., R.P. Signell and G.C. Kineke, 1998.  Lateral Trapping of Sediment in a Partially Mixed
Estuary. In Dronkers & Sheffers (eds) Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas ,pp 115-124.

Berhane, I., R.W. Sternberg, G.C. Kineke, T.G. Milligan and K. Kranck, 1997.  The variability of
suspended aggregates on the Amazon continental shelf.  Continental Shelf Research, 17:267-285.

Kineke, G.C., R.W. Sternberg, J.H. Trowbridge, W.R. Geyer, 1996. Fluid mud processes on
the Amazon continental shelf. Continental Shelf Research, 16:667-696.

Kineke, G.C. and R.W.Sternberg, 1995. Distribution of fluid muds on the Amazon continental
shelf. Marine Geology, 125:193-233.

Geyer, W.R. and G.C. Kineke, 1995. Observations of currents and water properties in the
Amazon frontal zone. Journal of Geophysical Research 100:2321-2339.

Trowbridge, J.H. and G.C. Kineke, 1994. Structure and dynamics of fluid muds over the
Amazon continental shelf. Journal of Geophysical Research 99:865-874

Kineke, G.C. and R.W.Sternberg, 1992. Measurements of high concentration suspended
sediments using the Optical Backscatterance Sensor. Marine Geology 108:253-258.

Sternberg, R.W., G.C. Kineke and R. Johnson, 1991. An instrument system for profiling
suspended sediment, and fluid and flow conditions in shallow marine environments Continental
Shelf Research 11: 109-122.

Kineke, G.C., R.W. Sternberg, D.A. Cacchione, K. Kranck and D.E. Drake, 1991.
Distribution and characteristics of suspended sediment on the Amazon shelf. Oceanography
April: 21-26.

Phone: 617-552-3655
FAX: 617-552-3655

Electronic Mail: kinekeg@bc.edu