Coastal and Marine Hazards

Collected bathymetric data, seismic data, and sediment cores from Lake Ozette in 2019, a USGS-US National Park Service partnership

Performed maintenance on and retrieved data from seafloor geodetic instrument arrays offshore of Oregon and northern California in 2019, a USGS-Scripps-University of Washington-University of Hawaii partnership

Multibeam bathymetric surveys conducted offshore of Oregon and northern California in 2019, a USGS-NOAA partnership

Geophysical data collected and instrumented tripods deployed in and around Astoria Canyon offshore of the Washington/Oregon border in 2019, a USGS-University of Washington partnership

Geophysical data collected offshore of Washington and Oregon in 2019, a USGS-University of Washington partnership

Regional geophysical surveys conducted offshore of northern California and southern Oregon in 2018, a USGS-Humboldt State University partnership

Multibeam bathymetric surveys conducted offshore of Oregon and northern California in 2018, a USGS-NOAA partnership

Here you will find general information on the science behind tsunami generation, computer animations of tsunamis, and summaries of past field studies.

Natural processes such as waves, tides, and weather, continually change coastal landscapes. The integrity of coastal homes, businesses, and infrastructure can be threatened by hazards associated with event-driven changes, such as extreme storms and their impacts on beach and dune erosion, or longer-term, cumulative changes associated with coastal and marine processes, such as sea-level rise...

The goal of the Estuarine and MaRsh Geology (EMRG) Research Project is to study how and where short- and long-term marsh and estuarine coastal processes interact, how they influence coastal accretion or erosion, and how they pre-condition a marsh’s resiliency to storms, sea-level change, and human alterations along the northern Gulf of Mexico (Grand Bay and Point aux Chenes, Mississippi and St...

Shortly after the Great San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906, a sea level disturbance (tsunami) was recorded at the Presidio tide gauge station in San Francisco (the station is now located nearby at Ft. Point). What type of mechanism (earthquake rupture, landslide, other) generated the tsunami recorded at the Presidio tide gauge station?

From May of 2018 through November of 2019, USGS scientists collected imagery from video cameras overlooking the coast along a beach on Whidbey Island, Island County at the northern boundary of Puget Sound in western Washington.