Publications
Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.
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Filter Total Items: 1331
Element concentrations and grain size of sediment from the Similkameen River above Enloe Dam (Enloe Reservoir) near Oroville, Washington, 2019
In 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a reconnaissance survey of concentrations of 41 trace elements present in bed sediment in the reservoir on the Similkameen River upstream from Enloe Dam, near Oroville, Washington. The Similkameen River drains a watershed containing highly mineralized geologic deposits with current (2019) and historical mining activity. Results of this survey indicated
Authors
Stephen E. Cox, Christopher A. Curran, Andrew R. Spanjer, Chad C. Opatz, Renee K. Takesue, J. Lynn Bell
Reproducibility and variability of earthquake subsidence estimates from saltmarshes of a Cascadia estuary
We examine fossil foraminiferal assemblages from 20 sediment cores to assess sudden relative sea-level (RSL) changes across three mud-over-peat contacts at three salt marshes in northern Humboldt Bay, California (~44.8°N, -124.2°W). We use a validated foraminiferal-based Bayesian transfer function to evaluate the variability of subsidence stratigraphy at a range of 30-6000 m across an estuary. We
Authors
Jason Scott Padgett, Simon E. Engelhart, Harvey M. Kelsey, Robert C. Witter, Niamh Cahill
Crowd-sourced SfM: Best practices for high resolution monitoring of coastal cliffs and bluffs
Structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry is an increasingly common technique for measuring landscape change over time by deriving 3D point clouds and surface models from overlapping photographs. Traditional change detection approaches require photos that are geotagged with a differential GPS (DGPS) location, which requires expensive equipment that can limit the ability of communities and researc
Authors
Phillipe Alan Wernette, Ian M. Miller, Andrew C. Ritchie, Jonathan Warrick
Crustal permeability changes observed from seismic attenuation: Impacts on multi-mainshock sequences
We use amplitude ratios from narrowband-filtered earthquake seismograms to measure variations of seismic attenuation over time, providing unique insights into the dynamic state of stress in the Earth’s crust at depth. Our dataset from earthquakes of the 2016-2017 Central Apennines sequence allows us to obtain high-resolution time histories of seismic attenuation (frequency band: 0.5-30 Hz) charact
Authors
Luca Malagnini, Thomas E. Parsons, Irene Munafo, Simone Mancini, Margarita Segou, Eric L. Geist
Marine minerals in Alaska — A review of coastal and deep-ocean regions
Minerals occurring in marine environments span the globe and encompass a broad range of mineral categories, forming within varied geologic and oceanographic settings. They occur in coastal regions, either from the continuation or mechanical reworking of terrestrial mineralization, as well as in the deep ocean, from diagenetic, hydrogenetic, and hydrothermal processes. The oceans cover most of the
Authors
Amy Gartman, Kira Mizell, Douglas C. Kreiner
Impact of climate change on mollusks and other invertebrate resources at the Dominican University of California archaeological site (CA-MRN-254), Marin County, California
We have identified and provided ecological interpretations of 30 taxa recovered at two shellmounds at the Dominican University of California archaeology site in Marin County, California (CA-MRN-254). A Q-mode cluster analysis was used to group the samples according to their faunal similarity. The clusters ranged from a diverse grouping of 100 samples with 27 taxa (Cluster A) to those with a more r
Authors
Mary McGann, Charles L. Powell
Revisiting the 1899 earthquake series using integrative geophysical analysis in Yakutat Bay, Alaska
A series of large earthquakes in 1899 affected southeastern Alaska near Yakutat and Disenchantment Bays. The largest of the series, a MW 8.2 event on 10 September 1899, generated an ~12-m-high tsunami and as much as 14.4 m of coseismic uplift in Yakutat Bay, the largest coseismic uplift ever measured. Several complex fault systems in the area are associated with the Yakutat terrane collision with
Authors
Maureen A. L. Walton, Sean P.S. Gulick, Peter J. Haeussler
Continental shelves as detrital mixers: U-Pb and Lu-Hf detrital zircon provenance of the Pleistocene–Holocene Bering Sea and its margins
Continental shelves serve as critical transfer zones in sediment-routing systems, linking the terrestrial erosional and deep-water depositional domains. The degree to which clastic sediment is mixed and homogenized during transfer across broad shelves has important implications for understanding deep-sea detrital records. Wide continental shelves are thought to act as capacitors characterized by t
Authors
Matthew A. Malkowski, Samuel Johnstone, Glenn R. Sharman, Colin J. White, Daniel Scheirer, Ginger Barth
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization
A numerical study of geomorphic and oceanographic controls on wave-driven runup on fringing reefs with shore-normal channels
Many populated, tropical coastlines fronted by fringing coral reefs are exposed to wave-driven marine flooding that is exacerbated by sea-level rise. Most fringing coral reef are not alongshore uniform, but bisected by shore-normal channels; however, little is known about the influence of such channels on alongshore variations on runup and flooding of the adjacent coastline. We con-ducted a parame
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi, Annouk Rey, Ap van Dongeren
21st-century stagnation in unvegetated sand-sea activity
Sand seas are vast expanses of Earth’s surface containing large areas of aeolian dunes—topographic patterns manifest from above-threshold winds and a supply of loose sand. Predictions of the role of future climate change for sand-sea activity are sparse and contradictory. Here we examine the impact of climate on all of Earth’s presently-unvegetated sand seas, using ensemble runs of an Earth System
Authors
Andrew Gunn, Amy E. East, Douglas J. Jerolmack
Characterizing storm-induced coastal change hazards along the United States West Coast
Traditional methods to assess the probability of storm-induced erosion and flooding from extreme water levels have limited use along the U.S. West Coast where swell dominates erosion and storm surge is limited. This effort presents methodology to assess the probability of erosion and flooding for the U.S. West Coast from extreme total water levels (TWLs), but the approach is applicable to coastal
Authors
James B. Shope, Li H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard, Curt Storlazzi, Katherine A. Serafin, Kara S. Doran, Hilary F. Stockdon, Borja G. Reguero, Fernando J. Mendez, Sonia Castanedo, Alba Cid, Laura Cagigal, Peter Ruggiero
Mega-depressions on the Cocos Ridge: Links between volcanism, faults, hydrothermal circulation, and dissolution
High-resolution bathymetry and 3D seismic data along the Cocos Ridge reveal a 245 km2 field of ∼1 to 4 km in diameter seafloor depressions. The seafloor depressions are part of a two-tiered honeycomb pattern. The lower-tier depressions have steep faults that truncate strata with chaotic internal reflections consistent with sediment collapse into the depression. These extend into a lens shaped inte
Authors
Jared W. Kluesner, Eli Silver, Nathaniel Bangs, César Ranero, Stephanie Nale, James Gibson, Kirk McIntosh