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Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 1332

Seismic stratigraphic evidence of ice-sheet advances on the Wilkes Land margin of Antarctica

The Wilkes Land continental shelf, similar to other Antarctic shelves, is underlain by thick sequences of steeply prograded glacial diamictons. On the outer shelf, banks that are shallower than 400 m are separated by broad outer-shelf troughs that deepen landward. The prograded sequences are found preferentially in these broad outer-shelf troughs. We propose that these outer-shelf prograding wedge
Authors
S. L. Eittreim, Alan K. Cooper, J. Wannesson

Strides made in understanding Antarctic stratigraphy and Cenozoic glacial history

It is known that the Antarctic ice sheet greatly affected global climate, sea‐level, ocean circulation, and Southern Hemisphere biota during Cenozoic times, but until recently, how remained largely a mystery. Because few Cenozoic rocks are exposed on the Antarctic continent, the only way to investigate the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet was through isotopic studies on distant deep‐ocean sedi
Authors
Alan K. Cooper, Peter Webb, Giuliano Brancolini

K1-95-HW: Cruise report 1995 - Preliminary results, phase III: Sediment chemistry and biological sampling survey

Mamala Bay, off the south shore of the island of Oahu, has been used as a repository of dredged material primarily from Pearl and Honolulu Harbors for over a century. The U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are conducting an integrated study on the distribution and character of dredged materials as well as the effects of dredged materi
Authors
M.E. Torresan, M. A. Hampton, J. H. Barber, F. L. Wong

Measurements in the bottom boundary layer on the Amazon subaqueous delta

An instrumented bottom tripod (GEOPROBE) recorded flow and suspended sediment data in the bottom boundary layer above the lower foresets of the Amazon subaqueous delta in 65 m mean water depth in February, 1990. After about two weeks of operation the apparent seafloor at the tripod site rapidly elevated over a 14-hour period by about 44 cm. This sudden change, which was detected by an acoustic alt
Authors
D. A. Cacchione, D. E. Drake, R.W. Kayen, R.W. Sternberg, G.C. Kineke, G. B. Tate

Origin, transport, and emplacement of an exotic island-arc terrane exposed in eastern Kamchatka, Russia

The regional stratigraphy of eastern Kamchatka includes an exotic, Early-Late Cretaceous ophiolite and Late Cretaceous island-arc volcanic sequence. Integrating the existing geologic and geophysical data, we examine the origin, transport, emplacement, and postemplacement deformation of the island-arc terrane, which is named the Olyutorsky island arc. Results from several paleomagnetic studies cons
Authors
Eric L. Geist, Tracy L. Vallier, David W. Scholl

Compositions, growth mechanisms, and temporal relations of hydrothermal sulfide‐sulfate‐silica chimneys at the northern Cleft segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge

Three active hydrothermal vents forming sulfide mounds and chimneys (Monolith, Fountain, and Pipe Organ) and more widely distributed inactive chimneys are spatially related to a system of discontinuous fissures and young sheet flow lavas at the northern Cleft segment, Juan de Fuca Ridge. The formation of zoned tubular Curich chimneys (type I) on the Monolith sulfide mound is related to focused flo
Authors
Randolph A. Koski, I. Jonasson, D. Kadko, Virginia K. Smith, Florence L. Wong

Minimal Pliocene-Pleistocene uplift of the dry valleys sector of the Transantarctic Mountains: A key parameter in ice-sheet reconstructions: Comment and reply

No abstract available.
Authors
John C. Behrendt, Alan K. Cooper, Thomas I. Wilch, George H. Denton, William C. McIntosh, Daniel R. Lux

Internal structure of bars in Grand Canyon, Arizona, and evaluation of proposed flow alternatives for Glen Canyon Dam

No abstract available.
Authors
David M. Rubin, J. C. Schmidt, R. A. Anima, K. M. Brown, R. E. Hunter, Hiroshi Ikeda, B. E. Jaffe, R. R. McDonald, J. M. Nelson, T. E. Reiss, Rex Sanders, R. G. Stanley

Bottom stress estimates and sand transport on northern California inner continental shelf

Measurements of velocities and light transmission in the bottom boundary layer on the continental shelf off northern California demonstrate the importance of storms in the transport of sediment along the coast and offshore in this region. Time-series estimates of bottom stress obtained from a combined wave-current bottom boundary layer model in which wave and current measurements from the Geoprobe
Authors
David A. Cacchione, David E. Drake, Joanne T. Ferreira, George B. Tate

Geologic framework of the Aleutian arc, Alaska

The Aleutian arc is the arcuate arrangement of mountain ranges and flanking submerged margins that forms the northern rim of the Pacific Basin from the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) eastward more than 3,000 km to Cooke Inlet (Fig. 1). It consists of two very different segments that meet near Unimak Pass: the Aleutian Ridge segment to the west and the Alaska Peninsula-the Kodiak Island segment to th
Authors
Tracy L. Vallier, David W. Scholl, Michael A. Fisher, Terry R. Bruns, Frederic H. Wilson, Roland E. von Huene, Andrew J. Stevenson

Cruise to the Chukchi Borderland, Arctic Ocean

Oceanography and geology were the principal focuses of the U.S. Geological Survey-sponsored expedition Arctic Summer West '92, which traveled to the eastern part of the Chukchi Borderland of the Amerasia Basin, western Arctic Ocean. The expedition took place from August 20 to September 25, 1992, aboard the Coast Guard cutter Polar Star. USGS investigated the geologic framework and tectonic origin
Authors
Arthur Grantz

The Beaufort Sea continental shelf as a seasonal source of atmospheric methane

Methane concentrations in the Beaufort Sea under the winter ice canopy offshore from northern Alaska are 3 to 28 times greater than they are in late summer when the ice is absent in a similar region offshore from northern Canada where methane is in approximate equilibrium with the atmosphere. These observations suggest that methane concentrates in the water under the sea‐ice cover during winter an
Authors
Keith A. Kvenvolden, Marvin D. Lilley, Thomas Lorenson, P. W. Barnes, E. McLaughlin