Multiple late Pleistocene glaciations that extended onto the continental shelf offshore Massachusetts, USA, may have emplaced as much as 100 km 3 of freshwater (salinity <5 ppt) in continental shelf sediments. To estimate the volume and extent of offshore freshwater, we developed a three-dimensional, variable-density model that couples fluid flow and heat and solute transport for the continental shelf offshore Massachusetts. The stratigraphy for our model is based on high-resolution, multichannel seismic data. The model incorporates the last 3 Ma of climate history by prescribing boundary conditions of sea level change and ice sheet extent and thickness. We incorporate new estimates of the maximum extent of a late Pleistocene ice sheet to near the shelf-slope break. Model results indicate that this late Pleistocene ice sheet was responsible for much of the emplaced freshwater. We predict that the current freshwater distribution may reach depths up to 500 meters below sea level and up to 30 km beyond Martha's Vineyard. The freshwater distribution is strongly dependent on the three-dimensional stratigraphy and ice sheet history. Our predictions improve our understanding of the distribution of offshore freshwater, a potential nonrenewable resource for coastal communities along recently glaciated margins.

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Localized zones of high-amplitude, discontinuous seismic reflections 100 km off the coast of Massachusetts, USA, have P wave velocities up to 190 m/s lower than those of adjacent sediments of equal depth (250 m below the sea floor). To investigate the origin of these low-velocity zones, we compare the detailed velocity structure across high-amplitude regions to adjacent, undisturbed regions through full-waveform inversion. We relate the full-waveform inversion velocities to effective stress and overpressure with a power law model. This model predicts localized overpressures up to 2.2 MPa associated with the high-amplitude reflections. To help understand the overpressure source, we model overpressure due to erosion, glacial loading, and sedimentation in one dimension. The modeling results show that ice loading from a late Pleistocene glaciation, ice loading from the Last Glacial Maximum, and rapid sedimentation contributed to the overpressure. Localized overpressure, however, is likely the result of focused fluid flow through a high-permeability layer below the region characterized by the high-amplitude reflections. These high overpressures may have also caused localized sediment deformation. Our forward models predict maximum overpressure during the Last Glacial Maximum due to loading by glaciers and rapid sedimentation, but these overpressures are dissipating in the modern, low sedimentation rate environment. This has important implications for our understanding continental shelf morphology, fluid flow, and submarine groundwater discharge off Massachusetts, as we show a mechanism related to Pleistocene ice sheets that may have created regions of anomalously high overpressure.