U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5082

Prepared in cooperation with the

City of Frederick, Maryland 

and 

Frederick County, Maryland

Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in 

Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge 

and Bens Branch, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012
Cover. 1995 aerial photograph of the Lake Linganore study area between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, Frederick County, 

Maryland, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP).
Water Volume and Sediment Volume and 

Density in Lake Linganore between 

Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, 

Frederick County, Maryland, 2012

By Andrew J. Sekellick, William S.L. Banks, and Michael K. Myers, Jr.

Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5082

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Prepared in cooperation with the

City of Frederick, Maryland

and 

Frederick County, Maryland 
U.S. Department of the Interior

SALLY JEWELL, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Suzette M. Kimball, Acting Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2013

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reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report.

Suggested citation:

Sekellick, A.J., Banks, W.S.L., and Myers, M.K., Jr., 2013, Water volume and sediment volume and density in Lake 

Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012: U.S. Geological 

Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5082, 15 p.

ISBN 978-1-4113-3585-1
iii

Contents

Abstract...........................................................................................................................................................1

Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1

Purpose and Scope ..............................................................................................................................4

Description of Study Area ...................................................................................................................4

Methods...........................................................................................................................................................4

Bathymetric-Data Collection ..............................................................................................................4

Bathymetric-Data Processing ............................................................................................................5

Sediment-Core Collection ...................................................................................................................6

Sediment-Data Processing ...............................................................................................................10

Quality Assurance...............................................................................................................................10

Water Volume...............................................................................................................................................10

Sediment Volume and Density...................................................................................................................11

Comparison to Previous Study Results ....................................................................................................13

Summary........................................................................................................................................................14

Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................................14

References Cited..........................................................................................................................................14
iv

Figures

1a. Map showing location of Linganore Creek watershed, Frederick County, 

Maryland ........................................................................................................................................2

1b. Map showing location of Linganore Creek study area, Frederick County, 

Maryland ........................................................................................................................................3

2. Map showing planned bathymetric survey lines with 100-foot spacing 

and quality-assurance lines, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, 

Maryland, 2012 ..............................................................................................................................5

3. Photograph showing U.S. Geological Survey bathymetric-survey and 

support boat, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012........................................6

4. Map showing collected bathymetric survey lines from measurement 

points, and quality-assurance lines from bathymetric quality-assurance 

data points, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012 ..........................................7

5. Map showing location of sediment cores and survey sections A–F of 

Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012 ................................................................8

6. Photograph showing U.S. Geological Survey Hoverprobe, Lake Linganore, 

Frederick County, Maryland, 2012..............................................................................................8

7. Map showing bathymetric contours of Lake Linganore, Frederick County, 

Maryland, 2012 ............................................................................................................................11

8. Map showing sediment accumulation and scour in Lake Linganore, 

Frederick County, Maryland, 2012............................................................................................12

9. Map showing areas with sediment deposited above full-pool elevation 

and the 308-foot contour line from 1972, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, 

Maryland, 2012 ............................................................................................................................12

Tables

1. Location and physical properties of sediment cores collected in Lake 

Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012..........................................................................9

2. Sediment volume, average dry bulk density, and sediment mass by 

survey section, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012..................................13

3. Total sediment mass between topographic contours of Lake Linganore, 

Frederick County, Maryland, 2012............................................................................................13
v

Conversion Factors and Datums

Multiply By To obtain

Length

inch (in.) 2.54 centimeter (cm)

foot (ft) 0.3048 meter (m)

mile (mi) 1.609 kilometer (km)

yard (yd) 0.9144 meter (m)

Area

acre 4,047.0 square meter (m2

)

square foot (ft2

) 929.0 square centimeter (cm2)

square inch (in2

) 6.452 square centimeter (cm2)

square mile (mi2

) 2.590 square kilometer (km2)

Volume

gallon (gal) 0.003785 cubic meter (m3

) 

million gallons (Mgal) 3,785 cubic meter (m3

)

cubic foot (ft3

) 0.02832 cubic meter (m3) 

cubic inch (in3

) 16.39 cubic centimeter (cm3) 

cubic yard (yd3

) 0.7646 cubic meter (m3) 

acre-foot (acre-ft) 1,233 cubic meter (m3

)

Mass

pound, avoirdupois (lb) 0.00045359 metric ton

pound, avoirdupois (lb) 0.4536 kilogram (kg) 

ounce, avoirdupois (oz) 28.35 gram (g) 

Density

pound per cubic foot (lb/ft3) 16.02 kilogram per cubic meter (kg/m3)

pound per cubic foot (lb/ft3

) 0.01602 gram per cubic centimeter (g/cm3)

Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (°F) may be converted to degrees Celsius (°C) as follows:

 °C = (°F - 32) / 1.8

Vertical coordinate information is referenced to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 

(NGVD 29).

Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83).

Altitude, as used in this report, refers to distance above the vertical datum.

Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in 

Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge 

and Bens Branch, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012

By Andrew J. Sekellick, William S.L. Banks, and Michael K. Myers, Jr.

Abstract

To assist in understanding sediment loadings and the 

management of water resources, a bathymetric survey was 

conducted in the part of Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill 

Road Bridge and Bens Branch in Frederick County, Maryland. 

The bathymetric survey was performed in January 2012 by 

the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of 

Frederick and Frederick County. A separate, but related, field 

effort to collect 18 sediment cores was conducted in March 

and April 2012. Depth and location data from the bathymetric 

survey and location data for the sediment cores were compiled 

and edited by using geographic information system (GIS) 

software. A three-dimensional triangulated irregular network 

(TIN) model of the lake bottom was created to calculate the 

volume of stored water in the reservoir. Large-scale topographic maps of the valley prior to inundation in 1972 were 

provided by the Frederick County Division of Utilities and 

Solid Waste Management and digitized for comparison with 

current (2012) conditions in order to calculate sediment 

volume. Cartographic representations of both water depth and 

sediment accumulation were produced, along with an accuracy assessment for the resulting bathymetric model. Vertical 

accuracies at the 95-percent confidence level for the collected 

data, the bathymetric surface model, and the bathymetric 

contour map were calculated to be 0.64 feet (ft), 1.77 ft, and 

2.30 ft, respectively. A dry bulk sediment density was calculated for each of the 18 sediment cores collected during March 

and April 2012, and used to determine accumulated sediment 

mass.

Water-storage capacity in the study area is 110 acre-feet 

(acre-ft) at a full-pool elevation 308 ft above the National 

Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929, whereas total sediment 

volume in the study area is 202 acre-ft. These totals indicate a 

loss of about 65 percent of the original water-storage capacity 

in the 40 years since dam construction. This corresponds to an 

average rate of sediment accumulation of 5.1 acre-ft per year 

since Linganore Creek was impounded.

Sediment thicknesses ranged from 0 to 16.7 ft. Sediment 

densities ranged from 0.38 to 1.08 grams per cubic centimeter, 

and generally decreased in the downstream direction. The total 

accumulated-sediment mass was 156,000 metric tons between 

1972 and 2012. 

Introduction

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified 

the Lower Monocacy River, a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, 

as impaired by sediment and nutrients, and imposed a sediment and phosphorus Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) 

(Maryland Department of the Environment, 2002). Linganore 

Creek is a tributary of the Lower Monocacy River (fig. 1). 

Lake Linganore, an impoundment on Linganore Creek, 

provides water to the City of Frederick and Frederick County, 

Maryland. Frederick County is within commuting distance of 

the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan 

areas, and from 2000 to 2010, the population of Frederick 

County increased by 19.5 percent (38,108 people) (U.S. 

Census Bureau, 2011). Land-use conversion that accompanies 

population growth and the expansion of impervious surfaces 

can cause increases in stormwater runoff, streamflow, erosion, 

and sediment and phosphorus loadings, which in turn have a 

significant impact on the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay 

and its tributaries (Gellis and others, 2009). Frederick County 

does not use Lake Linganore as a primary water supply and 

by agreement withdraws water from the lake under emergency 

conditions and when the pool elevation is greater or equal to a 

full-pool elevation of 308 feet (ft) National Geodetic Vertical 

Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29). In order to meet the TMDL 

regulatory requirement, mitigate sediment and phosphorus 

loadings, and manage their water resources, it is necessary 

for the City of Frederick and Frederick County, Maryland 

to know how much water is impounded in Lake Linganore 

and to accurately quantify the volume and mass of sediment 

behind the dam. To address these issues, the City of Frederick 

and Frederick County, Maryland partnered with the U.S. 

Geological Survey (USGS) to investigate water volume and 

sediment volume and density in the lake. 
2 Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, 2012

Figure 1a. Location of Linganore Creek watershed, Frederick County, Maryland.
Introduction 3Figure 1b. Location of Linganore Creek study area, Frederick County, Maryland.
4 Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, 2012

Purpose and Scope

This report describes the water-storage capacity, sediment 

volume, sediment density, and sediment mass in the upstream 

end of Lake Linganore, between Boyers Mill Road Bridge 

and Bens Branch, a tributary to Linganore Creek, in Frederick 

County, Maryland as of 2012. Methods used to collect and 

process the bathymetric data necessary to determine the elevation of the lake bottom and compute the water volume of the 

reservoir as well as methods used to collect representative 

cores used to measure dry bulk density are described. The 

report also documents an accuracy assessment of the collected 

environmental data.

Description of Study Area

Lake Linganore is located on Linganore Creek in central 

Frederick County, Maryland, 35 miles (mi) west of Baltimore, 

Maryland (fig. 1). Linganore Creek drains a section of the 

Piedmont Physiographic Province, characterized by rolling 

hills and moderately to deeply incised, well-drained valleys 

with altitudes up to 900 ft above sea level (DiLisio, 1983). 

Precipitation in the Linganore Creek Basin averages 40.64 

inches per year. Temperatures range from a July mean of 

77.9 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) to a December mean of 33.3 °F 

(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2006). 

Land use in the 78.4-square mile (mi2) Linganore Creek watershed is 10 percent developed, 59 percent agriculture, and 31 

percent forested and other land uses (Fry and others, 2011). 

The lake was created in 1972 by construction of an 

earthen dam on Linganore Creek. The impoundment extends 

from the dam to a point upstream of Bens Branch. The current 

study area is limited to the section of the lake between Boyers 

Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch. In the original design, the 

reservoir may have extended to Gas House Pike; however, the 

section above Bens Branch is not accessible by boat because 

of sedimentation. Therefore, reported water volume calculations and areas of sediment accumulation and scour are limited 

to the section of the lake between Boyers Mill Road Bridge 

and Bens Branch (fig. 1). Similar data for the lower section of 

the lake are published in Sekellick and Banks (2010).

Methods

Two separate field efforts were undertaken to measure 

water depth and collect sediment cores. Bathymetric measurements in the study area were made between January 23 and 

January 30, 2012. Sediment coring was done between March 

26 and April 2, 2012. Navigation data for both surveys was 

collected by using a differentially corrected Global Positioning 

System (GPS) signal processed and displayed in real time by 

using geographic information system (GIS) software. This 

allowed the study team to view the location of the boat in relation to targeted data-collection points. All data were stored and 

backed up daily on the USGS Maryland-Delaware-District of 

Columbia Water Science Center computer network.

Bathymetric-Data Collection

Survey lines were pre-planned to guide data-collection 

operations. Lines were created at 100-ft intervals and oriented 

perpendicular to the shoreline. The transect spacing was 

computed to optimize data coverage and accuracy and resulted 

in 69 data-collection lines spaced at intervals representing 

approximately 1 percent of the longitudinal distance of the 

study area (Wilson and Richards, 2006) (fig. 2). Once spacing 

and orientation of the survey lines had been determined, the 

transects were imported into the GIS software to guide the 

field crew during data collection. With this transect design, 4.1 

mi of data-collection lines were planned for the survey. The 

horizontal projection of the survey was Universal Transverse 

Mercator Zone 18 North, North American Datum of 1983 

(UTM, NAD 83) and the vertical control datum was National 

Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29). 

A 15-ft-long, flat-bottomed aluminum boat was used as 

a data-collection platform (fig. 3). Work crews consisted of 

three members of the USGS Maryland-Delaware-District of 

Columbia Water Science Center. Water depths in the study 

area (0 to 13.1 ft) allowed bathymetric-data collection to be 

accomplished by using a Teledyne RDI StreamPro AcousticDoppler current profiler (ADCP) with a 2,000 kilohertz (KHz) 

transducer. Echo-sounding transducers emit ultrasonic waves 

that are reflected and refracted off the lake bottom. Part of this 

signal is returned to a receiver aboard the transmitting vessel and recorded to derive two-way traveltime. This process 

allows depth calculations based on the known velocity of 

sound in water. The average boat speed during data collection 

was 2.6 feet per second with an ultrasonic pulse emitted each 

second, resulting in one data point being collected every 2.6 

ft. Several water-depth measurements were manually collected 

throughout each day with a stadia rod and engineering scale 

and compared to reported depths from the transducer. Pool 

elevation at the dam spillway was recorded before and after 

data collection every day. Water temperature was measured 

at the transducer near the surface of the lake and recorded 

continuously on a daily basis to determine ultrasonic wave 

velocity. Positional data were collected by using a differentially corrected GPS receiver that provided latitude and 

longitude with a local (Washington, D.C. area) horizontal 

accuracy of 1.87 ft at the 95-percent confidence interval, and 

a minimum nationwide accuracy of 3.02 ft (Federal Aviation 

Administration, 2006). The GPS receiver was located within 2 

ft of the bathymetric transducer—both located on the starboard 

side of the data collection platform. Nearly 5,000 data points 

were collected for the bathymetric dataset.

In addition to the survey lines described, two sets of quality-assurance transect lines were planned to provide independent measurements of water-depth precision and bias where 

they intersected with the environmental survey lines. One set 

was oriented at approximately 45 degrees to the survey lines 

and another set ran the length of the lake at alternating obtuse 

angles from the shore. Thirty of these quality-assurance lines 

were collected between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens 

Branch, and provided 37 coincidental (within 2 ft) data points 

(fig. 2).
Methods 5

Figure 2. Planned bathymetric survey lines with 100-foot spacing and quality-assurance lines, Lake Linganore, 

Frederick County, Maryland, 2012.

Bathymetric-Data Processing

In 1971, 16 large-scale topographic maps were produced 

showing parts of the Linganore Creek watershed that would 

be inundated after construction of the Linganore Dam and the 

subsequent filling of the Lake Linganore reservoir. The maps 

were constructed by using a 2-ft contour interval derived from 

field surveys in 1971 (Michael Marschner, Director of Utilities 

and Solid Waste Management, Frederick County, Maryland, 

written commun., June 10, 2009). The Frederick County 

Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management provided 

the USGS with digital copies of these maps at a 1:600 scale. 

They provided a reference surface that was used by USGS to 

calculate sediment accumulation in the study area.

Scaled images of the maps were imported into GIS software and were geo-referenced to properly display the spatial 

data. This allowed the topographic surface of the valley prior 

to inundation to be created at the original 2-ft-contour interval. To calculate the water volume of the reservoir, a variety 

of models and interpolations were considered to represent the 

lake-bottom surface, including an inverse distance-weighted 

model, a spline model, and kriging techniques. A triangulated 

irregular network (TIN) model was ultimately chosen on the 

basis of results achieved by Wilson and Richards (2006), 

Soler-López (2008), Kress and others (2005), and Sekellick 

and Banks (2010). TIN models have been used to accurately 

represent reservoir and lake-bottom surfaces for the purpose 

of determining both water and sediment volume (Wilson and 

Richards, 2006). The TIN model selected for this study was 

created by using the three-dimensional analyst tool in ArcGIS 

(Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., 2000). TIN 

models are built by connecting a set of points to create a network of triangles that form a three-dimensional, vector-based 

surface.

Reservoir-volume calculations are based on the accurate representations of a shoreline that is consistent with the 

elevation of the top of the dam at the spillway. A shoreline was 

digitized by using 1-ft orthophotos collected by the State of 

Maryland in 2008 (Maryland iMap Portal, 2008). Additional 

points were collected during the bathymetric survey to help 

ensure the digitized shoreline corresponded to a water and 

spillway elevation of 308 ft NGVD 29, and to help define the 

shoreline in areas where shadows, trees, or other obstructions 

prevented the use of aerial imagery. These additional points 

were combined with the aerial imagery, and a final shoreline 

was created for use in the current study.
6 Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, 2012

Figure 3. U.S. Geological Survey bathymetric-survey and support boat, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 

2012. [Photograph by William Banks, U.S. Geological Survey, 2012.]

Once bathymetric-data collection was complete, the raw 

data were examined by using the GIS software to identify 

false reflections created by submerged objects, such as fish 

or tree limbs, and these false reflections were removed. The 

remaining data were normalized to the spillway elevation of 

308 ft NGVD 29 and exported as a table containing x, y, and 

z positional values. A map showing these data is presented in 

figure 4. Water elevation exceeded dam spillway elevation on 

all data-collection days. As a result, the difference between 

water-surface and spillway elevation was subtracted from the 

recorded values.

The edited bathymetric data were used to create a TIN 

model of the 2012 lake bottom constrained within the final, 

digitized shoreline. The TIN model was used to calculate 

existing water-storage capacity in the study area. Another 

TIN model was created from the digitized 1972 topography, 

allowing for a calculation of the original storage capacity in 

the study area. Sediment volume was calculated by subtracting the volume of the current water-storage capacity from the 

volume of the 1972 original storage capacity in the same area. 

Cartographically smoothed bathymetric contours were then 

created from the 2012 lake bottom TIN model for map production and visualization purposes. A cartographic surface also 

was created showing areas of sediment deposition and scour.

Sediment-Core Collection

As in the previous report by Sekellick and Banks (2010), 

the study area was divided into sections to facilitate a more 

detailed understanding of the relation between sediment 

accumulation, density, and flow direction. The six sections 

were designated with letters “A” through “F” and 18 sediment 

cores were collected along six transects. Boundaries were 

drawn with each section incorporating, and centered upon, 

one sediment-core transect. The dimensions of the lake and 

the locations of the transects resulted in sections that were not 

equal in area or volume. The location of the sediment-core 

transects and six sections are shown in figure 5.

The cores were collected with a vibracore (also known 

as a sonic drill) mounted on the Hoverprobe, operated by the 

USGS (fig. 6). Transects and coring locations were selected 
Methods 7

Figure 4. Collected bathymetric survey lines from measurement points, and quality-assurance lines from bathymetric 

quality-assurance data points, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012.

to account for maximum variations in sediment thickness and 

presumed differences in sediment density, both laterally and 

along the long axis of the lake. All core material was collected 

and analyzed in aggregate to provide an average bulk density 

and moisture at each coring location. The Hoverprobe was 

maneuvered to the predetermined location and secured to 

prevent movement during drilling at each coring location. 

Latitude and longitude were recorded both before and after 

drilling to confirm that no movement had occurred. In order to 

collect a representative core, hydraulically driven cams generate high-frequency vibrations at the cutting edge of the hollow 

drill string. This allows hydraulic pistons to push the drill 

string deeper into the material. 

This drilling system was used to collect cores ranging 

from 93.98 to 442.0 centimeters (cm) in length. Sediment 

cores were collected in 3-inch (7.6-cm)-diameter, 60-inch 

(152-cm)-long threaded chlorinated polyvinyl chloride 

(CPVC) pipes. Drilling began with the measurement of water 

depth followed by drilling the first 152-cm CPVC pipe into 

the lake bed. As drill pipe is inserted, the core can be compressed. Core shortening, or compression, is caused by friction 

between sediment and the inner wall of the core barrel, and 

tends to be more pronounced in silts and clays than in unconsolidated, organic-rich sediments (Blomqvist, 1985). In order 

to account for actual sediment thickness, compression was 

determined by: (1) determining the depth of water above 

lake-bottom sediments, (2) advancing the first 152-cm-long 

pipe to its maximum depth, and (3) measuring the length 

of pipe above the core. As each pipe is advanced in 152-cm 

increments, the depth from the top of the casing to the top of 

the core was measured and the amount of compression was 

calculated. Typically, this meant that the top of the core was 

below water surface. Drilling continued by extending the drill 

string in 152-cm sections until the point of “refusal,” the point 

where no further downward movement was possible. The total 

lengths and compression for all cores except E4 are presented 

in table 1. No compression data were collected on core E4 due 

to equipment failure.

Once refusal was met, and compression calculated, 

hydraulics on the vibracore rig were used to extract the drill 

string one 152-cm-section at a time. At each site, core sections 

that were partially filled with lacustrine sediment and water 
8 Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, 2012

Figure 5. Location of sediment cores and survey sections A–F of Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012.

Figure 6. U.S. Geological Survey Hoverprobe, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012. [Photograph by 

William Banks, U.S. Geological Survey, 2012.]
Methods 9

were extruded from the core barrel and placed directly into 

clean, pre-weighed plastic containers and covered to prevent 

evaporation. At 15 of the 18 sites, the bottom section could not 

be extruded in the field. These sections were capped to prevent 

evaporation and material loss, temporarily stored aboard the 

Hoverprobe, and transported daily to the USGS sediment laboratory in Reston, Virginia. 

Upon completion of field efforts, the 15 bottom corebarrel sections (the sections that contained the pre- and postlacustrine boundary) were cut length-wise and examined to 

determine the boundary. The boundary between lake-bottom 

sediment and the underlying pre-inundation land-surface 

material was determined on the basis of sediment texture. 

Material deposited before the construction of the dam tended 

to be more coarse sand, whereas material deposited after dam 

construction tended to be finer silts and clays. In addition, the 

pre-inundation surface was often characterized by the presence 

of root hairs, sticks, seed pods, and leaves (Juracek, 1998; Van 

Metre and others, 2004). A quantitative analysis of sediment 

grain size was not performed.

For each core, material retained in the core barrel that 

was deposited after inundation was placed in the same container used for the collection of other material from that core. 

The material was allowed to air dry in a low humidity environment for 14 days at a temperature between 68 and 75 °F. Once 

all standing water was evaporated, the material was spread 

across plastic sheeting, and drying continued for an additional 

14 days. The dried material was then returned to its original 

container and weighed. The material was then allowed to dry 

an additional 10 days before being re-weighed to confirm the 

dry weight of the material (table 1). 

Table 1. Location and physical properties of sediment cores collected in Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012.

[cm, centimeters; cm3, cubic centimeters; g, grams; g/cm3, grams per cubic centimeter; --, missing data; “dry” weight and density are calculated after drying for 

28 days at between 68 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit]

Core 

identification

number

Date Latitude Longitude

Core 

length1

(cm)

Total core 

compression2

(cm) 

Core 

volume 

(cm3

)

Net wet 

weight 

(g)

Net dry 

weight 

(g)

Wet 

density 

(g/cm3)

Percent 

moisture

Dry 

bulk 

density 

(g/cm3

)

A2 4/2/2012 39.41518 -77.30233 318.8 38.10 14,537 13,925 6,328 0.96 54.6 0.44

A3 4/2/2012 39.41498 -77.30220 348.0 124.5 15,869 18,196 6,441 1.15 64.6 0.41

B1 3/30/2012 39.41766 -77.30064 200.7 50.80 9,151 13,689 5,761 1.50 57.9 0.63

B2 3/30/2012 39.41749 -77.30049 203.2 101.6 9,267 10,437 3,493 1.13 66.5 0.38

B3 3/30/2012 39.41735 -77.30019 442.0 165.1 20,155 24,055 9,389 1.19 61.0 0.47

B4 4/2/2012 39.41687 -77.30001 147.3 22.86 6,718 6,686 4,173 1.00 37.6 0.62

C1 3/29/2012 39.42033 -77.29909 266.7 73.66 12,162 15,412 7,008 1.27 54.5 0.58

C2 3/29/2012 39.42019 -77.29894 254.0 81.28 11,583 14,485 7,802 1.25 46.1 0.67

C3 3/29/2012 39.42012 -77.29872 160.0 50.80 7,297 13,520 4,740 1.85 64.9 0.65

C4 3/29/2012 39.41995 -77.29853 391.2 119.4 17,838 18,689 7,575 1.05 59.5 0.42

D1 3/28/2012 39.42252 -77.29671 223.5 58.42 10,193 10,112 6,668 0.99 34.1 0.65

D2b 3/28/2012 39.42227 -77.29646 315.0 50.80 14,363 19,070 10,750 1.33 43.6 0.75

D3 3/28/2012 39.42210 -77.29633 217.2 55.88 9,904 9,572 6,214 0.97 35.1 0.63

E2 3/27/2012 39.42313 -77.29199 111.8 15.24 5,097 5,253 4,400 1.03 16.2 0.86

E3 3/27/2012 39.42278 -77.29261 139.7 33.02 6,371 8,380 6,895 1.32 17.7 1.08

E4 3/27/2012 39.42226 -77.29243 149.9 -- 6,834 -- 6,781 -- -- 0.99

F1 3/26/2012 39.42058 -77.28728 106.7 12.70 4,865 5,534 3,266 1.14 41.0 0.67

F2 3/26/2012 39.42049 -77.28710 93.98 30.48 4,286 4,124 3,152 0.96 23.6 0.74

1

 Length of compacted material as measured in core barrel.

2

 Calculated length of compaction from field measurements.
10 Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, 2012

Sediment-Data Processing

Dry bulk density was calculated for 18 cores, and wet 

density and percent moisture were calculated for 17 cores, by 

use of equations (1) through (3).

Sediment density as dry bulk density:

BD = m / v (1)

where

BD = the bulk density, in grams per cubic 

centimeter (g/cm3),

m = the mass (net dry weight) of the sample, in 

grams (g), and

v = the volume of the sample, in cubic 

centimeters (cm3).

Percent moisture:

*100 w m M

w

 −  =     (2)

where

M = the percent moisture content,

w = the net wet weight of the sample (g), and

m = the net dry weight of the sample (g).

Volume for a cylindrical core sample:

2

4

d

v h   =    

(3)

where

v = the volume of the sample (cm3),

h = the height of the cylinder, in centimeters 

(cm),

d = the inside diameter of the cylinder (cm), and

π = the ratio of the circumference of a circle to 

its diameter.

In order to calculate wet density and moisture content, 

it was necessary to account for pore water removed from the 

core as a result of compression. To do this, a volume of water 

equal to the compression void was converted into an equivalent mass and subtracted from the final wet mass. For the 

purpose of this calculation, it was assumed that 1 g of water 

occupies a volume of 1 cm3 (table 1). 

Quality Assurance

Vertical accuracy was determined by use of guidelines 

from the National Standard for Spatial Data Accuracy 

(NSSDA), which requires an independent quality-assurance 

dataset (Federal Geographic Data Committee, 1998). Qualityassurance data points were compared to coincident data points 

from the environmental survey. To allow for a sufficient 

number of comparable points, measurements were considered 

to be coincidental if they were less than 2 ft apart in horizontal 

distance. To determine the precision in this measurement, the 

square root of the mean of the squared residuals (RMSE) was 

calculated by using equation (4) below.

2 ( ) / i i

RM z data check SE =  Z − Z n ∑  (4)

where

RMSEz = the root mean squared error of the z, or 

vertical component,

Zdatai = the coordinate of the i

th check point in the 

dataset,

Zchecki = the coordinate of the i

th check point in the 

quality-assurance dataset, and

n = the number of coincidental points.

When compared to the environmental dataset, there 

were 37 quality-assurance data points measuring depth at 

coincidental locations. Absolute vertical differences between 

the two datasets ranged from 0.2 ft to 1.6 ft. From equation 

(4), a RMSEz of 0.64 ft was calculated for the entire dataset. 

According to the NSSDA guidelines, a factor of 1.96 is 

multiplied by the RMSEz to determine vertical accuracy at the 

95-percent confidence interval. Thus, vertical data collected 

for this study have an accuracy of plus or minus 1.26 ft at the 

95-percent confidence interval. The vertical accuracies of the 

bathymetric-surface model and the bathymetric-contour map 

were 1.77 ft and 2.30 ft, respectively, at the 95-percent confidence interval, according to NSSDA guidelines.

Water Volume

The water-storage volume of Lake Linganore from 

Boyers Mill Road Bridge to Bens Branch was calculated to 

be 110 acre-feet (acre-ft) at full-pool elevation, the elevation 

where the water level is equal to that of the dam spillway 

(308 ft NGVD 29) for Lake Linganore. Mean water depth 

of this part of the reservoir is 2.3 ft, with a maximum depth 

of 13.1 ft near Boyers Mill Road Bridge. Approximately 50 

percent of the study area is shallower than 2 ft, and more than 

75 percent is less than 4 ft deep. Depths tend to be greater in 

narrower parts of the study area, such as near Bens Branch, 

and shallower in wider sections, for instance 1,000 ft upstream 

of Boyers Mill Road Bridge (fig. 7). Water volume in the study 

area has decreased by 202 acre-ft (about 65 percent) in the 40 

years since the dam was constructed. This corresponds to a 

loss of 5.1 acre-ft (about 1.6 percent) of original (1972) storage per year. 
Sediment Volume and Density 11

Figure 7. Bathymetric contours of Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012.

Sediment Volume and Density

Between 1972 and 2012, a total of 202 acre-ft of sediment was deposited in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill 

Road Bridge and Bens Branch. The sediment accumulation 

corresponds to an average rate of 5.1 acre-ft per year over the 

40 years since Linganore Creek was impounded. Maximum 

accumulated sediment thickness is 16.7 ft as determined 

through GIS analysis of the TIN models (fig. 8). The mean 

accumulated sediment thickness in the study area is 3.94 ft. 

Greater sediment accumulation is seen along what appears to 

be the remnant bed of Linganore Creek. Sediment accumulation above the dam spillway elevation (308 ft NGVD 29) was 

also noted during the study (fig. 9), resulting in the formation 

of peninsulas, islands, and bars with a total surface area of 5.7 

acres. Sediment accumulated up to dam spillway elevation 

beneath these emergent land features totals 19.3 acre-ft of 

sediment above the 1972 land surface and below the full pool 

elevation (308 ft NGVD 29), with a range of 0 to nearly 11 ft 

of sediment thickness. This sediment volume was incorporated 

in calculations of water volume loss and sediment accumulation in the study area. 

About 13 percent of the study area has experienced scour 

as compared to original (1972) land-surface elevations. Scour 

occurs where the elevation of the lake bottom in 2012 is below 

the elevation of the valley in 1972. Scour occurred more 

prevalently in the upper reaches of the study area (shaded gray 

in figure 8), up to a maximum scour depth of about 5 ft, and 

totaling approximately 5.8 acre-ft of sediment. 

In order to compare the accumulated volume and density 

of sediment for each of the previously defined sections, dry 

bulk densities (the mass of the dried material in a given core 

divided by the core volume) were calculated for each of the 

18 cores collected in the study area. In general, the dry bulk 

densities of earth materials range from 1.0 to 1.6 g/cm3

, however, soils with large amounts of organic material and certain 

clay minerals can have dry bulk densities well below 1.0 g/cm3

(Das, 2009). The calculated dry bulk densities in the study 

area range from 0.38 to 1.08 g/cm3

, and generally decreased in 

the downstream direction (table 1). Average dry bulk densities 

for each section decreased downstream and ranged from 0.42 

to 0.98 g/cm3

 (table 2), except in the case of section F, which 

was lower than that for section E.

In order to quantify sediment mass, the average dry 

bulk density for each section (assuming that average to be 

characteristic of its section) was multiplied by the sediment 

volume for each of the six sections (table 2). The sum of 

masses in all six sections provided a total accumulated mass 

of 156,000 metric tons. To facilitate future sediment management, the calculated TIN models were used to quantify the 

volume and mass of accumulated sediment in several elevation ranges, including three 4-ft constant-depth intervals and 
12 Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, 2012

Figure 8. Sediment accumulation and scour in Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012.

Figure 9. Areas with sediment deposited above full-pool elevation and the 308-foot contour line from 1972, Lake Linganore, 

Frederick County, Maryland, 2012.
Comparison to Previous Study Results 13

a variable-depth interval from 296 ft NGVD 29 to the 1972 

pre-inundation land surface (table 3). The uppermost depth 

layer, from the full-pool elevation of 308 ft to 304 ft NGVD 

29, contained 67.5 acre-ft and 57,800 metric tons of sediment. 

The next layer, from 304 ft to 300 ft NGVD 29, contained the 

largest volume and mass of sediment—89.4 acre-ft and 67,800 

metric tons, respectively. The third layer, from 300 ft to 296 

ft NGVD 29, contained 34.7 acre-ft and 24,600 metric tons of 

sediment. The deepest layer extended from 296 ft NGVD 29 

to the 1972 pre-inundation land surface and contained 10.4 

acre-ft and 6,260 metric tons of sediment. 

Comparison to Previous Study Results

To relate the results from Sekellick and Banks (2010) 

to the current study, average sediment accumulation rates 

from both studies were used to calculate a combined waterstorage capacity of the reservoir from the dam to Bens Branch. 

Sekellick and Banks (2010) showed that there was 1,860 

acre-ft of water-storage capacity left in the reservoir between 

the dam and Boyers Mill Road Bridge in 2009, a 15.8-percent 

loss of storage capacity over 37 years—0.43 percent per year. 

Using this rate to account for sediment accumulation between 

2009 and 2012 for the part of the lake between the dam and 

Boyers Mill Road Bridge, and using the calculated sediment 

accumulation of 202 acre-ft between Boyers Mill Road Bridge 

and Bens Branch, the combined 2012 water volume of Lake 

Linganore from the dam to Bens Branch is 1,950 acre-ft. This 

is a 22.9-percent decrease from the lake’s original storage 

capacity, or a decrease of 576 acre-ft.

The study area discussed in this report, from Boyers Mill 

Road Bridge to Bens Branch, holds 5.6 percent of the water in 

Lake Linganore and contains nearly 60 percent of the sediment accumulated since 1972. Sekellick and Banks (2010) 

noted that after dividing the lake between the dam and Boyers 

Mill Road Bridge into three equal-area sections, the most 

upstream section near Boyers Mill Road Bridge contained 22 

percent of the water-storage volume and 45 percent of the sediment accumulated since 1972, whereas the most downstream 

section contained 46 percent of the water-storage volume and 

27 percent of the sediment. 

With the 576 acre-ft decrease in storage capacity between 

1972 and 2012 from the dam to Bens Branch, the combined 

sedimentation rate for the 81.1-mi2

 watershed (above the dam) 

is 0.18 acre-feet per year per square mile (acre-ft/yr/mi2

). This 

is an increase of 0.08 acre-ft/yr/mi2

 from the rate of 0.10 acreft/yr/mi2

 that was calculated by using data collected between 

the dam and Boyers Mill Road Bridge (Sekellick and Banks, 

2010).

Table 2. Sediment volume, average dry bulk density, and sediment mass by survey section, Lake Linganore, Frederick County, 

Maryland, 2012.

[acre-ft, acre-feet; g/cm3, grams per cubic centimeter]

Section

(locations shown in 

figure 5)

Number of cores Volume 

(acre-ft)

Average density 

(g/cm3

)

Mass 

(metric tons)

A 2 30.3 0.42 15,900

B 4 59.9 0.52 38,400

C 4 38.5 0.58 27,500

D 3 32.5 0.68 27,200

E 3 35.0 0.98 42,300

F 2 5.8 0.70 5,010

TOTAL 18 202 156,000

Table 3. Total sediment mass between topographic contours of Lake Linganore, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012.

[ft, feet; kg, kilogram; acre-ft, acre-feet]

Topographic contour 

(ft)

Mass 

(kg)

Mass 

(metric tons)

Volume 

(acre-ft)

308 to 304 57,800,000 57,800 67.5

304 to 300 67,800,000 67,800 89.4

300 to 296 24,600,000 24,600 34.7

296 to 1972 pre-inundation 

land surface 6,260,000 6,260 10.4

TOTAL 156,000,000 156,000 202
14 Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, 2012

Summary

A water volume and sediment volume and density study 

was performed in Lake Linganore, Maryland by the U.S. 

Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Frederick 

and Fredrick County, Maryland. The survey was conducted 

in order to calculate water volume and sediment accumulation in the lake so that the City of Frederick and Frederick 

County, Maryland can better manage their water resources. 

Bathymetric data points from Boyers Mill Road Bridge to 

Bens Branch, bounded by a shoreline digitized from orthophotography (the study area), were collected to determine the 

elevation of the lake bottom. To determine the volume of sediment accumulated since the construction of the dam in 1972, 

contour lines representing land-surface elevations prior to dam 

construction were digitized and a surface was created by using 

geographic information system (GIS) software. Current water 

and sediment volumes (as of 2012) were calculated by using 

triangulated irregular network (TIN) models and by comparing the current lake bottom to the pre-inundation topography. 

Sediment density was computed from 18 sediment cores collected along six transects. These data were used to calculate a 

total mass of sediment in the study area. 

Water volume from Boyers Mill Road Bridge to Bens 

Branch is 110 acre-feet (acre-ft), which is 202 acre-ft 

(65 percent) less than the potential water-storage capacity 

as calculated from the 1972 contour lines. This decrease in 

water-storage capacity (202 acre-ft) represents the volume 

of sediment accumulated since 1972. Accumulated-sediment 

mass was calculated to be 156,000 metric tons.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Eric Boyd (USGS) who operated the support boat during data collection, as well as William 

Davies (USGS) who also provided support with electrical 

equipment and set-up. Lastly, special thanks are extended 

to Paul Pierce and Stephen Hembree of the Lake Linganore 

Association for their assistance on the lake.

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Prepared by USGS West Trenton Publishing Service Center.

Edited by Valerie M. Gaine.

Graphics and layout by Timothy W. Auer.

For additional information, contact:

Director, MD-DE-DC Water Science Center

U.S. Geological Survey

5522 Research Park Drive

Baltimore, MD 21228

or visit our Web site at:

http://md.water.usgs.gov
Sekellick, A.J., and others— Water Volume and Sediment Volume and Density in Lake Linganore between Boyers Mill Road Bridge and Bens Branch, Frederick County, Maryland, 2012—Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5082

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