Introduction

Paramecium Pond:

Paramecium pond is a manmade pond on the Wellesley College Campus. To create this pond, tap water is led through a concrete lining, called the silver thread, through the Wellesley arboretum, and fills the paramecium pond basin. The pond was first created in the 1920s has been dredged twice since then, the last time in 1995. The sediment in the pond built up so much that it needed to be removed. This process created a different bathymetry profile of the pond each time it happened. According to the previous dredgings and the time between them the pond should be due for another dredging, but it has not filled with sediment.

What we are studying: 

We are studying what makes up the sediment found in Paramecium Pond at Wellesley College. We are looking at this because we are specifically interested in the erosion of the concrete lining of the silver thread, and how much this contributes to the sediment in the pond. We have started analyzing sediment from the pond and what minerals are present in it.