Publications

Simple ground-water flow analyses can clarify complex empirical relations between rainfall and landslide motion. Here we present detailed data on rainfall, ground-water flow, and repetitive seasonal motion that occurred from 1982 to 1985 at Minor Creek landslide in northwestern California, and we interpret these data in the context of physically based theories. We find that landslide motion is clo

A major carbonate reef which drowned 13 ka is now submerged 150 m below sea level on the west coast of the island of Hawaii. A 25-km span of this reef was investigated using the submersible Makali'i. The reef occurs on the flanks of two active volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Hualalai, and the lavas from both volcanoes both underlie and overlie the submerged reef. Most of the basaltic lava flows that cros

No abstract available.

No abstract available. 

No abstract available. 

The tholeiitic flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group of middle and late Miocene age cover more than 200,000 km2 in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The most voluminous formation of the Group, the Grande Ronde Basalt, erupted for 2 m.y. from north-northwest-trending fissure systems concentrated in southeast Washington and adjacent Oregon and Idaho. Four magnetostratigraphic units (designat

Observations from a manned submersible vehicle indicate that the −360-m reef terrace northwest of the island of Hawaii is a drowned coral reef. The preferred uranium-series age of coralline algae collected from the reef face is 120 ± 5 ka. This age agrees with the notion that the reef was drowned during the sea-level rise following the major lowstand of the sea that occurred at 145 ka (oxygen isot

Unsteady, nonuniform landslide motion is caused by temporal and spatial variations in driving and resisting forces. Common sources of these variations include stream undercutting of landslide toes, episodic headscarp slumping, and ground-water potentiometric fluctuations. A linear theory for the kinematics of unsteady, nonuniform landslide motion is developed here by analyzing the behavior of smal

The island of Hawaii has one of the youngest landscapes on Earth, formed by frequent addition of new lava to its surface.  Because Hawaiian are generally nonexplosive and easily accessible, the island has long attracted geologists interested in studying the extraordinary power of volcanic eruptions.  The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), now nearing its 75th anniversary.

Miocene silicoflagellates, dominated by Mesocena, are identified and correlated from Site 594 to other Deep Sea Drilling Project sites. Relative paleotemperature values from silicoflagellates at Site 594 are very low, supporting the evidence of the associated cold-water, low-diversity Coccolith assemblages. The greatest abundances of Mesocena diodon nodosa yet recorded occur at Site 594, which is

A colored slope map (scale 1:80,000,000) was generated from digital land and sea floor elevations at 5‐min spacings from data tapes from the National Geophysical Data Center. Slope analysis is facilitated by examining the average slope in 250‐m altitude‐depth intervals both globally and in each of eight tectonic plates. The most striking feature of the map is the multiple parallel bands of steep s

The volcanic island Surtsey, off the south coast of Iceland, was created by volcanic activity in 1963–1967. Core from a 181-m-deep hole extending 123 m below sea level shows the results of 12 yr of hydrothermal alteration of basaltic tephra. The primary cause of heating of the tephra and of development of the hydrothermal system was the intrusion of dikes below sea level. At present, the hottest p