Funds are requested for the purchase of a fathometer system suitable for installation on a small research boat. The fathometer is to be used for research by members of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The equipment will be employed to conduct surveys of sediment thickness and sediment stratigraphy in lakes and shallow-marine environments prior to taking core samples of the sediments. Analysis of sediment cores from lakes and shallow- marine locations has proven very useful in the interpretation of global changes in climate and biosphere activity during the most recent geological past, and such reconstructions are vital for predicting future global climatic trends.
