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Publications

Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.

Filter Total Items: 1337

Source parameters controlling the generation and propagation of potential local tsunamis along the cascadia margin

The largest uncertainty in assessing hazards from local tsunamis along the Cascadia margin is estimating the possible earthquake source parameters. We investigate which source parameters exert the largest influence on tsunami generation and determine how each parameter affects the amplitude of the local tsunami. The following source parameters were analyzed: (1) type of faulting characteristic of
Authors
Eric L. Geist, Shoichi Yoshioka

Relationship between the present-day stress field and plate boundary forces in the Pacific Northwest

The relationship between plate boundary forces and the observed stress field in the Pacific Northwest is established using numerical models of continental deformation. Because the orientation of the greatest horizontal principal stress throughout the Pacific Northwest differs considerably from the direction of convergence between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates, the relationship between
Authors
Eric L. Geist

Final report: Acoustic mapping of dredged material disposal sites and deposits in Mamala Bay, Honolulu, Hawaii

No abstract available.
Authors
Michael E. Torresan, M. A. Hampton, M. H. Gowen, J. H. Barber, L. L. Zink, T. E. Chase, F. L. Wong, J. T. Gann, Peter Dartnell

The M2 tide on the Amazon Shelf

As part of A Multidisciplinary Amazon Shelf Sediment Study (AMASSEDS), moored and shipboard current measurements made over the Amazon shelf during 1990–1991 have been analyzed to determine the dominant semidiurnal tidal constituent, the M2. These results have been combined with coastal sea level data from within the Amazon and Para Rivers, the adjacent shelf, and with satellite‐derived tidal eleva
Authors
R.C. Beardsley, J.L. Candela, R. Limeburner, W. Rockwell Geyer, Steven J. Lentz, Belmiro M. Castro, D. A. Cacchione, Nelson Carneiro

Ubiquitous tar balls with a California-source signature on the shorelines of Prince William Sound, Alaska

Although the shorelines of Prince William Sound still bear traces of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, most of the flattened tar balls that can be found today on these shorelines are not residues of Exxon Valdez oil. Instead, the carbon-isotopic and hydrocarbonbiomarker signatures of 61 tar ball samples, collected from shorelines throughout the northern and western parts of the sound, are all remar
Authors
Keith A. Kvenvolden, Frances D. Hostettler, P. R. Carlson, John B. Rapp, C. N. Threlkeld, Augusta Warden

Seismic stratigraphic evidence of ice-sheet advances on the Wilkes Land margin of Antarctica

The Wilkes Land continental shelf, similar to other Antarctic shelves, is underlain by thick sequences of steeply prograded glacial diamictons. On the outer shelf, banks that are shallower than 400 m are separated by broad outer-shelf troughs that deepen landward. The prograded sequences are found preferentially in these broad outer-shelf troughs. We propose that these outer-shelf prograding wedge
Authors
S. L. Eittreim, Alan K. Cooper, J. Wannesson

Strides made in understanding Antarctic stratigraphy and Cenozoic glacial history

It is known that the Antarctic ice sheet greatly affected global climate, sea‐level, ocean circulation, and Southern Hemisphere biota during Cenozoic times, but until recently, how remained largely a mystery. Because few Cenozoic rocks are exposed on the Antarctic continent, the only way to investigate the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet was through isotopic studies on distant deep‐ocean sedi
Authors
Alan K. Cooper, Peter Webb, Giuliano Brancolini

K1-95-HW: Cruise report 1995 - Preliminary results, phase III: Sediment chemistry and biological sampling survey

Mamala Bay, off the south shore of the island of Oahu, has been used as a repository of dredged material primarily from Pearl and Honolulu Harbors for over a century. The U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are conducting an integrated study on the distribution and character of dredged materials as well as the effects of dredged materi
Authors
M.E. Torresan, M. A. Hampton, J. H. Barber, F. L. Wong

Measurements in the bottom boundary layer on the Amazon subaqueous delta

An instrumented bottom tripod (GEOPROBE) recorded flow and suspended sediment data in the bottom boundary layer above the lower foresets of the Amazon subaqueous delta in 65 m mean water depth in February, 1990. After about two weeks of operation the apparent seafloor at the tripod site rapidly elevated over a 14-hour period by about 44 cm. This sudden change, which was detected by an acoustic alt
Authors
D. A. Cacchione, D. E. Drake, R.W. Kayen, R.W. Sternberg, G.C. Kineke, G. B. Tate

Origin, transport, and emplacement of an exotic island-arc terrane exposed in eastern Kamchatka, Russia

The regional stratigraphy of eastern Kamchatka includes an exotic, Early-Late Cretaceous ophiolite and Late Cretaceous island-arc volcanic sequence. Integrating the existing geologic and geophysical data, we examine the origin, transport, emplacement, and postemplacement deformation of the island-arc terrane, which is named the Olyutorsky island arc. Results from several paleomagnetic studies cons
Authors
Eric L. Geist, Tracy L. Vallier, David W. Scholl

Compositions, growth mechanisms, and temporal relations of hydrothermal sulfide‐sulfate‐silica chimneys at the northern Cleft segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge

Three active hydrothermal vents forming sulfide mounds and chimneys (Monolith, Fountain, and Pipe Organ) and more widely distributed inactive chimneys are spatially related to a system of discontinuous fissures and young sheet flow lavas at the northern Cleft segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge. The formation of zoned tubular Curich chimneys (type I) on the Monolith sulfide mound is related to focused flo
Authors
Randolph A. Koski, I. Jonasson, D. Kadko, Virginia K. Smith, Florence L. Wong

Minimal Pliocene-Pleistocene uplift of the dry valleys sector of the Transantarctic Mountains: A key parameter in ice-sheet reconstructions: Comment and reply

No abstract available.
Authors
John C. Behrendt, Alan K. Cooper, Thomas I. Wilch, George H. Denton, William C. McIntosh, Daniel R. Lux
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