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

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Gas hydrates of the Peruvian outer continental margin

Gas hydrates were recovered during coring by Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 112 at Sites 685 and 688 on the Peruvian outer continental margin at latitudes of 9° and 11.5°S, where water depths are 5070 and 3820 m, respectively. In addition, nearby Sites 682 and 683 yielded compelling evidence that gas hydrates are present, but gas hydrates were not directly observed there. Anomalous acoustic refl
Authors
Keith A. Kvenvolden, Miriam Kastner

Racemization Dating

No abstract  available.
Authors
J.L. Bada, Keith A. Kvenvolden

Sedimentology and petroleum occurrence, Schoolhouse Member, Maroon Formation (Lower Permian), northwestern Colorado

The Lower Permian Schoolhouse Member of the Maroon Formation forms a partly exhumed petroleum reservoir in the Eagle basin of northwestern Colorado. The Schoolhouse consists mainly of yellowish gray to gray, low-angle to parallel bedded, very fine to fine-grained sandstone of eolian sand-sheet origin; interbedded fluvial deposits are present in most sections. Geological and geochemical data sugges
Authors
Samuel Y. Johnson, Christopher J. Schenk, D. L. Anders, Michele L. Tuttle

Prodigious submarine landslides on the Hawaiian Ridge

The extensive area covered by major submarine mass wasting deposits on or near the Hawaiian Ridge has been delimited by systematic mapping of the Hawaiian exclusive economic zone using the side‐looking sonar system GLORIA. These surveys show that slumps and debris avalanche deposits are exposed over about 100,000 km2 of the ridge and adjacent seafloor from Kauai to Hawaii, covering an area more th
Authors
James G. Moore, David A. Clague, R. T. Holcomb, Peter W. Lipman, William R. Normark, Michael E. Torresan

Salinity variations in submarine hydrothermal systems by layered double-diffusive convection

Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the salinity variations in vent fluids of seafloor geothermal systems. New experiments reacting diabase and evolved seawater were carried out to reproduce earlier published observations of Cl depletions attributed to formation of an ephemeral Cl-bearing mineral. The absence of any Cl depletions in the present study suggests that the formation of Cl-
Authors
James L. Bischoff, Robert J. Rosenbauer

Estimates of the suspended sediment reference concentration (Ca) and resuspension coefficient (γ0) from near-bottom observations on the California shelf

Near-bottom current and suspended sediment measurements above a sandy clayey silt bed on the California continental shelf are used to estimate the near-bed suspended sediment reference concentration, Ca, and the bed shear stress, τ0. A proposed model contends that Ca should be proportional to the normalized excess shear stress acting on the sediment grains and to the availability of erodible grain
Authors
D. E. Drake, D. A. Cacchione

Hydrocarbon gases in sediment of the Voring Plateau, Norwegian Sea

Geochemical studies at three ODP Leg 104 sites on the Wring Plateau help define the distribution of hydrocarbon gases in sediment of this prominent feature of the Norwegian continental margin. Low levels of hydrocarbon gas were encountered in sediment of the outer part of the plateau, but sediment of the inner part of the plateau is very gassy. The molecular composition of inner plateau gases ( >
Authors
Keith A. Kvenvolden, Margaret Golan-Bac, T.J. McDonald, R.C. Pflaum, J.M. Brooks

Organic matter at sites 642, 643, and 644, ODP Leg 104

Sedimentary extractable organic matter was analyzed at three ODP Leg 104 sites in the Norwegian Sea. Organic carbon content ranged from less than 0.1% to a maximum of 1.8%. Extractable organic matter content and unresolved complex mixture concentrations were low and randomly distributed. Low levels of aliphatic (branched and normal) and aromatic hydrocarbons were detected in all of the sediments a
Authors
T.J. McDonald, M.C. Kennicutt, J.M. Brooks, Keith A. Kvenvolden

Organic geochemistry on Leg 104

The Leg 104 organic geochemistry program consisted of monitoring (a) hydrocarbon gases, (b) organic and inorganic carbon, and (c) parameters resulting from Rock-Eval pyrolysis at three sites on the Vdring Plateau. The results amplify some of those obtained earlier on Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Leg 38. In a regional sense there is an inverse correlation between amounts of hydrocarbon gas and
Authors
Keith A. Kvenvolden, T.J. McDonald

Marine magnetic gradiometer: A tool for the seismic interpreter

The marine magnetometer has been used since the early '50s as an ancillary tool on vessels conducting regional and local seismic surveys. Emphasis on marine magnetic data by academia has led to major discoveries about the structure of the earth's crust, such as the association of shallow, crustal magnetic anomalies to seafloor spreading and long-wavelength anomalies to deep crustal origin. The sam
Authors
Richard J. Wold, Alan K. Cooper

Observations in Monterey Canyon and Fan Valley using the submersible Alvin and a photographic sled

No abstract available.
Authors
Stephen L. Eittreim, R.W. Embley, W. R. Normark, H. Gary Greene, C.M. McHugh, W.B. Ryan