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The advance and retreat of the Laurentide Ice sheet during the last glacial maxim shaped the seabed of maritime Canada and is hypothesized to have contributed to the re-charge of offshore aquifers. Prince Edward Island (PEI) is composed of porous sandstone extending to the shelf region, which is conducive to storing groundwater and contributes the large aquifer system within the province. The extension of aquifers to the continental shelf region can contribute to submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), where terrestrial based groundwater seeps out from subsurface aquifers to the seabed and can create localized estuary-like conditions at the seafloor. A survey in 2021 led by the Ocean Frontier Institute SOURCE project studying offshore groundwater around PEI found a freshening within two sediment cores located 14km offshore the northern coast of PEI (Schulten et al. 2025). This freshening effect could indicate freshwater discharge to the seabed, potentially influencing benthic fauna composition and could impact the seabed organisms of the province. 

This project explores how the glacial history of PEI, glacial and post-glacial sediments, as well as potential freshening due to SGD influence organism patterns on the seabed.  Organism distributions at the seabed are influenced by a variety of biotic and abiotic variables and is explored through benthic habitat mapping which can provide baseline information about ecosystems by describing seafloor faunal communities. This becomes important in resource management, habitat monitoring, and furthering our overall understanding of seafloor patterns. Predictive seafloor habitat mapping approaches often combine acoustic multibeam echosounder data with seafloor imagery validation data. This methodology relies on surficial information when other factors such as water column parameters and subsurface geology also play a role in determining benthic habitat patterns.  In this project, sub-surface geology and water column information are integrated with surficial data to provide a more comprehensive approach to habitat mapping in collaboration with the SEAM lab at Dalhousie University.

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