Publications
Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.
Filter Total Items: 1337
The application of microtextural and heavy mineral analysis to discriminate between storm and tsunami deposits
Recent work has applied microtextural and heavy mineral analyses to sandy storm and tsunami deposits from Portugal, Scotland, Indonesia and the USA. We looked at the interpretation of microtextural imagery (scanning electron microscopy) of quartz grains and heavy mineral compositions. We consider inundation events of different chronologies and sources (the AD 1755 Lisbon and 2004 Indian Ocean tsun
Authors
Pedro J.M. Costa, Guy R. Gelfenbaum, Sue Dawson, SeanPaul La Selle, F Milne, J. Cascalho, C. Ponte Lira, C. Andrade, M. C. Freitas, Bruce E. Jaffe
Baseline assessments for coral reef community structure and demographics on West Maui
The coastal and upslope terrains of West Maui have had a long history of impacts owing to more than a century of human activities. Resource extraction, agriculture, as well as residential and resort development have caused land-based pollution that impairs water quality and adversely impact the adjacent marine ecosystem. Today, West Maui’s coral reefs are chronically impacted by the effects of lan
Authors
Bernardo Vargas-Angel, Darla White, Curt D. Storlazzi, Tova Callender, Paulo Maurin
Downscaling wind and wavefields for 21st century coastal flood hazard projections in a region of complex terrain
While global climate models (GCMs) provide useful projections of near-surface wind vectors into the 21st century, resolution is not sufficient enough for use in regional wave modeling. Statistically downscaled GCM projections from Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogues provide daily averaged near-surface winds at an appropriate spatial resolution for wave modeling within the orographically co
Authors
Andrea C. O'Neill, Li H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard
How can climate change and engineered water conveyance affect sediment dynamics in the San Francisco Bay-Delta system?
Suspended sediment concentration is an important estuarine health indicator. Estuarine ecosystems rely on the maintenance of habitat conditions, which are changing due to direct human impact and climate change. This study aims to evaluate the impact of climate change relative to engineering measures on estuarine fine sediment dynamics and sediment budgets. We use the highly engineered San Francisc
Authors
Fernanda Achete, Mick Van der Wegen, Jan Adriaan Roelvink, Bruce E. Jaffe
Wave dynamics and flooding on low-lying tropical reef-lined coasts
Many tropical islands and coasts are lined with coral reefs. These reefs are host to valuable ecosystems that support
abundant marine species and provide resources for fisheries and recreation. As a flood defense, reefs protect coastlines
from coastal storm damage and flooding by reducing the majority of incident wave energy. However, during storm and
large swell conditions, coastal wave-driven fl
Authors
Ap van Dongeran, Curt D. Storlazzi, Ellen Quataert, Stuart Pearson
Rigorously valuing the role of coral reefs in coastal protection: An example from Maui, Hawaii, U.S.A.
The degradation of coastal habitats, particularly coral reefs, raises risks by exposing communities to flooding hazards.
The protective services of these natural defenses are not assessed in the same rigorous, economic terms as artificial
defenses such as seawalls, and therefore often not considered in decision-making. Here we present a new methodology
that combines economic, ecological, and engin
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi, Borja G. Reguero, Erik Lowe, James B. Shope, Ann E. Gibbs, Mike Beck, Barry A. Nickel
Description of gravity cores from San Pablo Bay and Carquinez Strait, San Francisco Bay, California
Seventy-two gravity cores were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1990, 1991, and 2000 from San Pablo Bay and Carquinez Strait, California. The gravity cores collected within San Pablo Bay contain bioturbated laminated silts and sandy clays, whole and broken bivalve shells (mostly mussels), fossil tube structures, and fine-grained plant or wood fragments. Gravity cores from the channel wal
Authors
Donald L. Woodrow, John L. Chin, Florence L. Wong, Theresa A. Fregoso, Bruce E. Jaffe
Reducing risk where tectonic plates collide—U.S. Geological Survey subduction zone science plan
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information and tools to build resilience in communities exposed to subduction zone earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. Improving the application of USGS science to successfully reduce risk from these events relies on whole community efforts, with continuing partnerships among scientists and
Authors
Joan S. Gomberg, K. A. Ludwig, Barbara Bekins, Thomas M. Brocher, John Brock, Daniel S. Brothers, Jason D. Chaytor, Arthur Frankel, Eric L. Geist, Matthew M. Haney, Stephen H. Hickman, William S. Leith, Evelyn A. Roeloffs, William H. Schulz, Thomas W. Sisson, Kristi L. Wallace, Janet Watt, Anne M. Wein
Reducing risk where tectonic plates collide
Most of the world’s earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions are caused by the continuous motions of the many tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s outer shell. The most powerful of these natural hazards occur in subduction zones, where two plates collide and one is thrust beneath another. The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) “Reducing Risk Where Tectonic Plates Collide—A USGS P
Authors
Joan S. Gomberg, K. A. Ludwig
A new seamless, high-resolution digital elevation model of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, California
Climate change, sea-level rise, and human development have contributed to the changing geomorphology of the San Francisco Bay - Delta (Bay-Delta) Estuary system. The need to predict scenarios of change led to the development of a new seamless, high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the Bay – Delta that can be used by modelers attempting to understand potential future changes to the estua
Authors
Theresa A. Fregoso, Rueen-Fang Wang, Eli Ateljevich, Bruce E. Jaffe
Marine ferromanganese encrustations: Archives of changing oceans
Marine iron–manganese oxide coatings occur in many shallow and deep-water areas of the global ocean and can form in three ways: 1) Fe–Mn crusts can precipitate from seawater onto rocks on seamounts; 2) Fe–Mn nodules can form on the sediment surface around a nucleus by diagenetic processes in sediment pore water; 3) encrustations can precipitate from hydrothermal fluids. These oxide coatings have b
Authors
Andrea Koschinsky, James R. Hein
Coastal circulation and water-column properties in the National Park of American Samoa, February–July 2015
There is little information on the oceanography in the National Park of American Samoa (NPSA). The transport pathways for potentially harmful constituents of land-derived runoff, as well as larvae and other planktonic organisms, are driven by nearshore circulation patterns. To evaluate the processes affecting coral reef ecosystem health, it is first necessary to understand the oceanographic proces
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi, Olivia Cheriton, Kurt J. Rosenberger, Joshua B. Logan, Timothy B. Clark