Sedimentation patterns in nearshore zones of lakes supporting macrophytes

This thesis focuses on three areas of investigation: construction and calibration of gypsum cylinders for the measurement of water flow; quantification of the relationship between flow and macrophyte structure; and the prediction of surficial sediment size structure in the littoral. Near-bottom water flow at 34 littoral sites was quantified using gypsum dissolution. Plant surface area within three weedbeds in Lake Memphremagog (Que. - Vt.) explained 67% of the variance in flow when the effect of water depth was removed. A model relating waterflow within beds to average wind energy and plant surface area was constructed. A multivariate model developed and tested in the littoral of Lake Memphremagog explained 67% of the variance in the proportion of sediment $<$2 um in diameter (clay). The model included the physical variables of fetch, depth, and slope and biological measures of plant presence or absence and sediment organic matter. A second model required plant surface area and sediment organic matter to explain 83% of the variance in the proportion of clay at sites within weedbeds, near the depth of maximum plant biomass