Publications
Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.
Filter Total Items: 1331
Dam removal: Listening in
Dam removal is widely used as an approach for river restoration in the United States. The increase in dam removals—particularly large dams—and associated dam-removal studies over the last few decades motivated a working group at the USGS John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis to review and synthesize available studies of dam removals and their findings. Based on dam removals thus far
Authors
Melissa M. Foley, James Bellmore, James E. O'Connor, Jeffrey J. Duda, Amy E. East, Gordon G. Grant, Chauncey W. Anderson, Jennifer A. Bountry, Mathias J. Collins, Patrick J. Connolly, Laura S. Craig, James E. Evans, Samantha Greene, Francis J. Magilligan, Christopher S. Magirl, Jon J. Major, George R. Pess, Timothy J. Randle, Patrick B. Shafroth, Christian E. Torgersen, Desiree D. Tullos, Andrew C. Wilcox
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Volcano Hazards Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Oregon Water Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Volcano Science Center, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)
Investigation of late Pleistocene and Holocene activity in the San Gregorio fault zone on the continental slope north of Monterey Canyon, offshore central California
We provide an extensive high‐resolution geophysical, sediment core, and radiocarbon dataset to address late Pleistocene and Holocene fault activity of the San Gregorio fault zone (SGFZ), offshore central California. The SGFZ occurs primarily offshore in the San Andreas fault system and has been accommodating dextral strike‐slip motion between the Pacific and North American plates since the mid‐Mio
Authors
Katherine L. Maier, Charles K. Paull, Daniel S. Brothers, David W. Caress, Mary McGann, Eve M. Lundsten, Krystle Anderson, Roberto Gwiazda
Introduction to “Global tsunami science: Past and future, Volume II”
Twenty-two papers on the study of tsunamis are included in Volume II of the PAGEOPH topical issue “Global Tsunami Science: Past and Future”. Volume I of this topical issue was published as PAGEOPH, vol. 173, No. 12, 2016 (Eds., E. L. Geist, H. M. Fritz, A. B. Rabinovich, and Y. Tanioka). Three papers in Volume II focus on details of the 2011 and 2016 tsunami-generating earthquakes offshore of Toho
Authors
Alexander B. Rabinovich, Hermann M. Fritz, Yuichiro Tanioka, Eric L. Geist
The use of passive membrane samplers to assess organic contaminant inputs at five coastal sites in west Maui, Hawaii
Five passive membrane samplers were deployed for 28 continuous days at select sites along and near the west Maui coastline to assess organic compounds and contaminant inputs to diverse, shallow coral reef ecosystems. Daily and weekly fluctuations in such inputs were captured on the membranes using integrative sampling. The distribution of organic compounds observed at these five coastal sites show
Authors
Pamela L. Campbell, Nancy G. Prouty, Curt D. Storlazzi, Nicole D'antonio
Landscape context and the biophysical response of rivers to dam removal in the United States
Dams have been a fundamental part of the U.S. national agenda over the past two hundred years. Recently, however, dam removal has emerged as a strategy for addressing aging, obsolete infrastructure and more than 1,100 dams have been removed since the 1970s. However, only 130 of these removals had any ecological or geomorphic assessments, and fewer than half of those included before- and after-remo
Authors
Melissa M. Foley, Francis J. Magilligan, Christian E. Torgersen, Jon J. Major, Chauncey W. Anderson, Patrick J. Connolly, Daniel J. Wieferich, Patrick B. Shafroth, James E. Evans, Dana M. Infante, Laura Craig
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Science Synthesis, Analysis and Research Program, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Oregon Water Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Coastal habitat and biological community response to dam removal on the Elwha River
Habitat diversity and heterogeneity play a fundamental role in structuring ecological communities. Dam emplacement and removal can fundamentally alter habitat characteristics, which in turn can affect associated biological communities. Beginning in the early 1900s, the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams in Washington, USA, withheld an estimated 30 million tonnes of sediment from river, coastal, and near
Authors
Melissa M. Foley, Jonathan A. Warrick, Andrew C. Ritchie, Andrew W. Stevens, Patrick B. Shafroth, Jeffrey J. Duda, Matthew M. Beirne, Rebecca Paradis, Guy R. Gelfenbaum, Randall McCoy, Erin S. Cubley
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