Publications
Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.
USGS Pubs Warehouse
USGS Pubs Warehouse
Browse the USGS Publications Warehouse to broaden your search with enhanced filtering.
Sound Waves Newsletter
Sound Waves Newsletter
Browse issues of the Sound Waves newsletter, featuring coastal and marine research news from across the USGS.
Filter Total Items: 1337
Focused fluid flow and methane venting along the Queen Charlotte fault, offshore Alaska (USA) and British Columbia (Canada)
Fluid seepage along obliquely deforming plate boundaries can be an important indicator of crustal permeability and influence on fault-zone mechanics and hydrocarbon migration. The ~850-km-long Queen Charlotte fault (QCF) is the dominant structure along the right-lateral transform boundary that separates the Pacific and North American tectonic plates offshore southeastern Alaska (USA) and western B
Authors
Nancy G. Prouty, Daniel S. Brothers, Jared W. Kluesner, J. Vaughn Barrie, Brian D. Andrews, Rachel Lauer, Gary Greene, James E. Conrad, Thomas Lorenson, Michael D. Law, Diana Sahy, Kim Conway, Mary McGann, Peter Dartnell
Geomorphic and sedimentary effects of modern climate change: Current and anticipated future conditions in the western United States
Hydroclimatic changes associated with global warming over the past 50 years have been documented widely, but physical landscape responses are poorly understood thus far. Detecting sedimentary and geomorphic signals of modern climate change presents challenges owing to short record lengths, difficulty resolving signals in stochastic natural systems, influences of land use and tectonic activity, lon
Authors
Amy E. East, Joel B. Sankey
Spectral wave-driven bedload transport across a coral reef flat/lagoon complex
Coral reefs are an important source of sediment for reef-lined coasts by helping to maintain beaches while also providing protection in the form of wave energy dissipation. Understanding the mechanisms by which sediment is delivered to the coast as well as better constraining the total volumes generated are critical for projecting future coastal change. A month-long hydrodynamics and sediment tran
Authors
Kurt J. Rosenberger, Curt D. Storlazzi, Olivia Cheriton, Andrew Pomeroy, Jeff E. Hansen, Ryan Lowe, Mark Buckley
Modeling three-dimensional flow over spur-and-groove morphology
Spur-and-groove (SAG) morphology characterizes the fore reef of many coral reefs worldwide. Although the existence and geometrical properties of SAG have been well documented, an understanding of the hydrodynamics over them is limited. Here, the three-dimensional flow patterns over SAG formations, and a sensitivity of those patterns to waves, currents, and SAG geometry were characterized using the
Authors
Renan da Silva, Curt D. Storlazzi, Justin S. Rogers, Johan Reyns, Robert T. McCall
Sediment connectivity: A framework for analyzing coastal sediment transport pathways
Connectivity provides a framework for analyzing coastal sediment transport pathways, building on conceptual advances in graph theory from other scientific disciplines. Connectivity schematizes sediment pathways as a directed graph (i.e., a set of nodes and links). This study presents a novel application of graph theory and connectivity metrics like modularity and centrality to coastal sediment dyn
Authors
Stuart Pearson, Bram C. van Prooijen, Edwin P.L. Elias, Sean Vitousek, Zheng Bing Wang
Carbon storage and sediment trapping by Egeria densa Planch., a globally invasive, freshwater macrophyte
Invasive plants have long been recognized for altering ecosystem properties, but their long-term impacts on ecosystem processes remain largely unknown. In this study, we determined the impact of Egeria densa Planch, a globally invasive freshwater macrophyte, on sedimentation processes in a large tidal freshwater region. We measured carbon accumulation (CARs) and inorganic sedimentation rates in su
Authors
Judith Z. Drexler, Shruti Khanna, Jessica R. Lacy
The impacts of a changing climate to DOD coastal facilities in the tropical Pacific Ocean
The USGS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Deltares, and the University of Hawaii (UH) recently completed a study investigating the impact of a changing climate and sea-level rise on Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, which is part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS). The isolated location of RTS makes
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi
Sea‐level rise will drive divergent sediment transport patterns on fore reefs and reef flats, potentially causing erosion on atoll islands
Atoll reef islands primarily consist of unconsolidated sediment, and their ocean‐facing shorelines are maintained by sediment produced and transported across their reefs. Changes in incident waves can alter cross‐shore sediment exchange and, thus, affect the sediment budget and morphology of atoll reef islands. Here we investigate the influence of sea level rise and projected wave climate change o
Authors
James F Bramante, Andrew D Ashton, Curt D. Storlazzi, Olivia Cheriton, Jeffrey P. Donnelly
Littoral sediment from rivers: Patterns, rates and processes of river mouth morphodynamics
Rivers provide important sediment inputs to many littoral cells, thereby replenishing sand and gravel of beaches around the world. However, there is limited information about the patterns and processes of littoral-grade sediment transfer from rivers into coastal systems. Here I address these information gaps by examining topographic and bathymetric data of river mouths and constructing sediment bu
Authors
Jonathan Warrick
Sediment export and impacts associated with river delta channelization compound estuary vulnerability to sea-level rise, Skagit River Delta, Washington, USA
Improved understanding of the budget and retention of sediment in river deltas is becoming increasingly important to mitigate and plan for impacts expected with sea level rise. In this study, analyses of historical bathymetric change, sediment core stratigraphy, and modeling are used to evaluate the sediment budget and environmental response of the largest river delta in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Authors
Eric E. Grossman, Andrew W. Stevens, Peter Dartnell, Doug A George, David Finlayson
The effects of phosphatization on the mineral associations and speciation of Pb in ferromanganese crusts
The older layers of thick ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts from the central Pacific Ocean have undergone diagenetic phosphatization, during which carbonate fluorapatite (CFA) filled fractures and pore space and replaced carbonates. The effects of phosphatization on individual trace metal concentrations, speciation, and phase associations in FeMn crusts remain poorly understood yet may be important to
Authors
Kira Mizell, James R. Hein, Andrea Koschinsky, Sarah M. Hayes
Distribution and transport of Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida, larvae in northern Puget Sound, Washington, USA
As efforts for restoring Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida) populations have expanded, there is an increased need to understand local factors that could influence the long-term success of these projects. To address concerns over potential limitations to recruitment at a restoration site in northern Puget Sound, Washington, USA, a study was developed to characterize physical processes governing larval
Authors
S.K. Grossman, Eric E. Grossman, Julie S. Barber, S.K. Gamblewood, Sean C. Crosby