Publications
Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.
Filter Total Items: 1332
Hydrodynamics of spur and groove formations on a coral reef
Spur and groove (SAG) formations are found on the fore reefs of many coral reefs worldwide. Although these formations are primarily present in wave‐dominated environments, their effect on wave‐driven hydrodynamics is not well understood. A two‐dimensional, depth‐averaged, phase‐resolving nonlinear Boussinesq model (funwaveC) was used to model hydrodynamics on a simplified SAG system. The modeling
Authors
Justin S. Rogers, Stephen G. Monismith, Falk Feddersen, Curt D. Storlazzi
The influence of sea level rise and changes in fringing reef morphology on gradients in alongshore sediment transport
Climate‐change‐induced alterations to coral reef ecosystems, in combination with sea level rise, have the potential to significantly alter wave dissipation across reefs, leading to shifts in alongshore sediment transport gradients and alterations to tropical coastlines. We used Delft3D to model schematized profiles of two reef flat widths based on the south Molokai, Hawaii coast. Simulated anthrop
Authors
A. E. Grady, L. J. Moore, Curt D. Storlazzi, E. Elias, M. A. Reidenbach
Hyperpycnal plume-derived fans in the Santa Barbara Channel, California
Hyperpycnal gravity currents rapidly transport sediment across shore from rivers to the continental shelf and deep sea. Although these geophysical processes are important sediment dispersal mechanisms, few distinct geomorphic features on the continental shelf can be attributed to hyperpycnal flows. Here we provide evidence of large depositional features derived from hyperpycnal plumes on the conti
Authors
Jonathan A. Warrick, Alexander R. Simms, Andy Ritchie, Elisabeth Steel, Pete Dartnell, James E. Conrad, David P. Finlayson
Trends in the suspended-sediment yields of coastal rivers of northern California, 1955–2010
Time-dependencies of suspended-sediment discharge from six coastal watersheds of northern California – Smith River, Klamath River, Trinity River, Redwood Creek, Mad River, and Eel River – were evaluated using monitoring data from 1955 to 2010. Suspended-sediment concentrations revealed time-dependent hysteresis and multi-year trends. The multi-year trends had two primary patterns relative to river
Authors
J.A. Warrick, Mary Ann Madej, M. A. Goñi, R. A. Wheatcroft
Fine-grained sediment dispersal along the California coast
Fine-grained sediment (silt and clay) enters coastal waters from rivers, eroding coastal bluffs, resuspension of seabed sediment, and human activities such as dredging and beach nourishment. The amount of sediment in coastal waters is an important factor in ocean ecosystem health, but little information exists on both the natural and human-driven magnitudes of fine-grained sediment delivery to the
Authors
Jonathan A. Warrick, Curt D. Storlazzi
High-resolution seismic-reflection and marine-magnetic data from offshore central California--San Gregorio to Point Sur
The U.S. Geological Survey collected high-resolution seismic-reflection data on four surveys (S-N1-09-MB, S-15-10-NC, S-06-11-MB, and S-04-12-MB) and marine-magnetic data on one survey (S-06-11-MB) between 2009 and 2012, offshore of central California between San Gregorio and Point Sur. This work was supported in part by the California Seafloor Mapping Program.
The survey areas span about 120 km
Authors
Ray W. Sliter, Samuel Y. Johnson, Janet T. Watt, Daniel S. Scheirer, Parker Allwardt, Peter J. Triezenberg
Determination of low-level mercury in coralline aragonite by calcination-isotope dilution-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and its application to Diploria specimens from Castle Harbour, Bermuda
We have developed a technique that combines a high temperature quartz furnace with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry for the determination of Hg stored in the annual CaCO3 bands found in coral skeletons. Substantial matrix effects, presumably due to the discontinuous introduction of CO2 to the gas stream, were corrected for by simultaneously supplying a stream of argon containing highly
Authors
Carl H. Lamborg, Gretchen J. Swarr, Konrad A. Hughen, Ross J. Jones, Scott Birdwhistell, Kathryn Furby, Sujata A. Murty, Nancy G. Prouty, Chun-Mao Tseng
The role of farfield tectonic stress in oceanic intraplate deformation, Gulf of Alaska
An integration of geophysical data from the Pacific Plate reveals plate bending anomalies, massive intraplate shearing and deformation, and a lack of oceanic crust magnetic lineaments in different regions across the Gulf of Alaska. We argue that farfield stress from the Yakutat Terrane collision with North America is the major driver for these unusual features. Similar plate motion vectors indicat
Authors
Robert S. Reece, Sean P. S. Gulick, Gail L. Christesen, Brian K. Horton, Harm J. VanAvendonk, Ginger Barth
Forecasting the impact of storm waves and sea-level rise on Midway Atoll and Laysan Island within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument—a comparison of passive versus dynamic inundation models
Two inundation events in 2011 underscored the potential for elevated water levels to damage infrastructure and affect terrestrial ecosystems on the low-lying Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The goal of this study was to compare passive "bathtub" inundation models based on geographic information systems (GIS) to those that include dynamic water level
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi, Paul Berkowitz, Michelle H. Reynolds, Joshua B. Logan
Estimation of submarine mass failure probability from a sequence of deposits with age dates
The empirical probability of submarine mass failure is quantified from a sequence of dated mass-transport deposits. Several different techniques are described to estimate the parameters for a suite of candidate probability models. The techniques, previously developed for analyzing paleoseismic data, include maximum likelihood and Type II (Bayesian) maximum likelihood methods derived from renewal p
Authors
Eric L. Geist, Jason D. Chaytor, Thomas E. Parsons, Uri S. ten Brink
SedPods: a low-cost coral proxy for measuring net sedimentation
Sediment derived from impaired watersheds is a major stressor to adjacent coral reefs globally. To better understand stresses generated by specific processes and events, many coral reef scientists seek to collect physical samples of settling particles and obtain reproducible information about net rates of sediment accumulation on coral reefs. Yet, the tools most commonly used to gather this inform
Authors
Michael E. Field, Henry Chezar, Curt D. Storlazzi
Burial and exhumation of temperate bedrock reefs as elucidated by repetitive high-resolution sea floor sonar surveys: Spatial patterns and impacts to species' richness and diversity
To understand how chronic sediment burial and scour contribute to variation in the structure of algal and invertebrate communities on temperate bedrock reefs, the dynamics of the substrate and communities were monitored at locations that experience sand inundation and adjacent areas that do not. Co-located benthic scuba-transect surveys and high-resolution swath-sonar surveys were completed on bed
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi, Theresa A. Fregoso, Jared D. Figurski, Jan Freiwald, Steve I. Lonhart, David P. Finlayson