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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: 1316

Linking sediment transport and stratigraphy on the continental shelf

The goal of the shelf sediment dynamics component of STRATAFORM is to link sediment transport processes active on the continental shelf to the formation and preservation of event beds in shelf sediment deposits. An approach combining shelf sediment-transport models with high-resolution measurements of water-column and bed properties over periods from several months to several years allows us to ma
Authors
P.L. Wiberg, D. A. Cacchione, Richard W. Sternberg, L. Donelson Wright

Organic geochemistry applied to environmental assessments of Prince William Sound, Alaska, after the Exxon Valdez oil spill—a review

Organic geochemistry played a major role in the environmental assessments conducted following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which occurred on March 24, 1989, and released about 258,000 bbls (41 million liters) of Alaska North Slope crude oil into Prince William Sound. Geochemical analyses of more than 15,000 sediment, tar, and biological samples and about 5000 water samples provide the largest datab
Authors
A.E. Bence, Keith A. Kvenvolden, M.C. Kennicutt

Comparison of the partitioning behaviours of yttrium, rare earth elements, and titanium between hydrogenetic marine ferromanganese crusts and seawater

In order to evaluate details of the partitioning behaviours of Y, rare earth elements (REEs), and Ti between inorganic metal oxide surfaces and seawater, we studied the distribution of these elements in hydrogenetic marine ferromanganese (Fe-Mn) crusts from the Central Pacific Ocean. Nonphosphatized Fe-Mn crusts display shale-normalized rare earths and yttrium (REYSN) patterns (Y inserted between
Authors
Michael Bau, Andrea Koschinsky, Peter Dulski, James R. Hein

Relationship between the present-day stress field and plate boundary forces in the Pacific Northwest

The relationship between plate boundary forces and the observed stress field in the Pacific Northwest is established using numerical models of continental deformation. Because the orientation of the greatest horizontal principal stress throughout the Pacific Northwest differs considerably from the direction of convergence between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates, the relationship between
Authors
Eric L. Geist

Source parameters controlling the generation and propagation of potential local tsunamis along the cascadia margin

The largest uncertainty in assessing hazards from local tsunamis along the Cascadia margin is estimating the possible earthquake source parameters. We investigate which source parameters exert the largest influence on tsunami generation and determine how each parameter affects the amplitude of the local tsunami. The following source parameters were analyzed: (1) type of faulting characteristic of
Authors
Eric L. Geist, Shoichi Yoshioka

Final report: Acoustic mapping of dredged material disposal sites and deposits in Mamala Bay, Honolulu, Hawaii

No abstract available.
Authors
Michael E. Torresan, M. A. Hampton, M. H. Gowen, J. H. Barber, L. L. Zink, T. E. Chase, F. L. Wong, J. T. Gann, Peter Dartnell

The M2 tide on the Amazon Shelf

As part of A Multidisciplinary Amazon Shelf Sediment Study (AMASSEDS), moored and shipboard current measurements made over the Amazon shelf during 1990–1991 have been analyzed to determine the dominant semidiurnal tidal constituent, the M2. These results have been combined with coastal sea level data from within the Amazon and Para Rivers, the adjacent shelf, and with satellite‐derived tidal eleva
Authors
R.C. Beardsley, J.L. Candela, R. Limeburner, W. Rockwell Geyer, Steven J. Lentz, Belmiro M. Castro, D. A. Cacchione, Nelson Carneiro

Ubiquitous tar balls with a California-source signature on the shorelines of Prince William Sound, Alaska

Although the shorelines of Prince William Sound still bear traces of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, most of the flattened tar balls that can be found today on these shorelines are not residues of Exxon Valdez oil. Instead, the carbon-isotopic and hydrocarbonbiomarker signatures of 61 tar ball samples, collected from shorelines throughout the northern and western parts of the sound, are all remar
Authors
Keith A. Kvenvolden, Frances D. Hostettler, P. R. Carlson, John B. Rapp, C. N. Threlkeld, Augusta Warden

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