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Earthquake recurrence estimates for northern Caribbean faults from combinatorial optimization

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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

2023 Annual Report

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Pragmatically mapping Phragmites with unoccupied aerial systems: A comparison of invasive species land cover classification using RGB and multispectral imagery

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Hydroacoustic observations reveal drivers of mixing and salinization of a karst subterranean estuary during intense precipitation

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Scientific literature and information products produced by Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center staff

Featured Journal Article

Invasive Phragmites plants on the shore of a lake

Pragmatically mapping Phragmites with unoccupied aerial systems: A comparison of invasive species land cover classification using RGB and multispectral imagery

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Featured USGS Series

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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center—2023 Annual Report.  The 2023 annual report highlights accomplishments, includes a list of publications, and summarizes the work of the center and each of the science groups.

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Sound Waves

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Coastal and Marine Research News from Across the USGS

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Filter Total Items: 1737

Environmental variation, vegetation distribution, carbon dynamics and water/energy exchange at high latitudes Environmental variation, vegetation distribution, carbon dynamics and water/energy exchange at high latitudes

The responses of high latitude ecosystems to global change involve complex interactions among environmental variables, vegetation distribution, carbon dynamics, and water and energy exchange. These responses may have important consequences for the earth system. In this study, we evaluated how vegetation distribution, carbon stocks and turnover, and water and energy exchange are related...
Authors
A. D. McGuire, C. Wirth, M. Apps, J. Beringer, J. Clein, H. Epstein, D. W. Kicklighter, J. Bhatti, F. S. Chapin, B. De Groot, D. Efremov, W. Eugster, M. Fukuda, T. Gower, L. Hinzman, B. Huntley, G.J. Jia, E. Kasischke, J. Melillo, V. Romanovsky, A. Shvidenko, E. Vaganov, D. Walker
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Prediction of the fate of p,p'-DDE in sediment on the Palos Verdes shelf, California, USA Prediction of the fate of p,p'-DDE in sediment on the Palos Verdes shelf, California, USA

Long-term (60-yr) predictions of vertical profiles of p,p???-DDE concentrations in contaminated bottom sediments on the Palos Verdes shelf were calculated for three locations along the 60-m isobath using a numerical solution of the one-dimensional advection-diffusion equation. The calculations incorporated the following processes: sediment deposition (or erosion), depth-dependent solid...
Authors
C. R. Sherwood, D.E. Drake, P.L. Wiberg, R. A. Wheatcroft
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Effects of tidal current phase at the junction of two straits Effects of tidal current phase at the junction of two straits

Estuaries typically have a monotonic increase in salinity from freshwater at the head of the estuary to ocean water at the mouth, creating a consistent direction for the longitudinal baroclinic pressure gradient. However, Mare Island Strait in San Francisco Bay has a local salinity minimum created by the phasing of the currents at the junction of Mare Island and Carquinez Straits. The...
Authors
John C. Warner, David H. Schoellhamer, Jon Burau, Geoffrey Schladow
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, California Water Science Center

Ancient impact structures on modern continental shelves: The Chesapeake Bay, Montagnais, and Toms Canyon craters, Atlantic margin of North America Ancient impact structures on modern continental shelves: The Chesapeake Bay, Montagnais, and Toms Canyon craters, Atlantic margin of North America

Three ancient impact craters (Chesapeake Bay - 35.7 Ma; Toms Canyon - 35.7 Ma; Montagnais - 51 Ma) and one multiring impact basin (Chicxulub - 65 Ma) are currently known to be buried beneath modern continental shelves. All occur on the passive Atlantic margin of North America in regions extensively explored by seismic reflection surveys in the search for oil and gas reserves. We limit...
Authors
C. Wylie Poag, J. B. Plescia, P.C. Molzer
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sand wave fields beneath the Loop Current, Gulf of Mexico: Reworking of fan sands Sand wave fields beneath the Loop Current, Gulf of Mexico: Reworking of fan sands

Extensive fields of large barchan-like sand waves and longitudinal sand ribbons have been mapped by deep-towed SeaMARC IA sidescan sonar on part of the middle and lower Mississippi Fan that lies in about 3200 m of water. The area is beneath the strongly flowing Loop Current. The bedforms have not been adequately sampled but probably consist of winnowed siliciclastic-foraminiferal sands...
Authors
Neil H. Kenyon, A.M. Akhmetzhanov, D.C. Twichell
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

USGS leads United States effort in Mallik Well USGS leads United States effort in Mallik Well

This winter, in the extremely cold, far reaches of the upper Northwest Territory of Canada, there is an international consortium of researchers participating in a program to study methane hydrates. The researchers are currently drilling a 1200 m-deep production research well through the permafrost. It is one of three wells located in the Mackenzie Delta, on the shore of the Beaufort Sea...
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Acoustic, pore pressure, and strength properties of sediment containing gas hydrate Acoustic, pore pressure, and strength properties of sediment containing gas hydrate

No abstract available.
Authors
William J. Winters, William P. Dillon, Deborah R. Hutchinson
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Comment [on 'Are Proterozoic cap carbonates and isotopic excursions a record of gas hydrate destabilization following Earth’s coldest intervals?, Kennedy et al., Geology 29(5), 442-446] Comment [on 'Are Proterozoic cap carbonates and isotopic excursions a record of gas hydrate destabilization following Earth’s coldest intervals?, Kennedy et al., Geology 29(5), 442-446]

We welcome the evidence noted by Kennedy et al. (2001) for strong methane excursions associated with the cessation of glacial episodes. They identify the carbon in cap carbonates overlying glacial sediments as probably being of biogenic origin and as likely having had a biogenic methane source. These authors suggest that the methane was released from gas hydrate, which we agree is likely...
Authors
M.D. Max, William P. Dillon
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Spatial and temporal distribution of contaminated, effluent-affected sediment on the Palos Verdes margin, southern California Spatial and temporal distribution of contaminated, effluent-affected sediment on the Palos Verdes margin, southern California

A sedimentary deposit on the continental margin near the Palos Verdes Peninsula, California is comprised of sewage effluent and geologic materials and is contaminated with metals, pesticides (including DDT and associated compounds), and PCBs. The deposit was mapped with subbottom acoustic profilers, and sediment cores were analyzed for geochemical and physical properties to determine the...
Authors
H.J. Lee, C. R. Sherwood, D.E. Drake, B. D. Edwards, F. Wong, M. Hamer
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Lower crustal flow and the role of shear in basin subsidence: An example from the Dead Sea basin Lower crustal flow and the role of shear in basin subsidence: An example from the Dead Sea basin

We interpret large-scale subsidence (5–6 km depth) with little attendant brittle deformation in the southern Dead Sea basin, a large pull-apart basin along the Dead Sea transform plate boundary, to indicate lower crustal thinning due to lower crustal flow. Along-axis flow within the lower crust could be induced by the reduction of overburden pressure in the central Dead Sea basin, where...
Authors
A. Al-Zoubi, Uri S. ten Brink
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Estimation of shoreline position and change using airborne topographic lidar data Estimation of shoreline position and change using airborne topographic lidar data

A method has been developed for estimating shoreline position from airborne scanning laser data. This technique allows rapid estimation of objective, GPS-based shoreline positions over hundreds of kilometers of coast, essential for the assessment of large-scale coastal behavior. Shoreline position, defined as the cross-shore position of a vertical shoreline datum, is found by fitting a...
Authors
H.F. Stockdon, A. H. Sallenger, J. H. List, R.A. Holman
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

The nature of the crust under Cayman Trough from gravity The nature of the crust under Cayman Trough from gravity

Considerable crustal thickness variations are inferred along Cayman Trough, a slow-spreading ocean basin in the Caribbean Sea, from modeling of the gravity field. The crust to a distance of 50 km from the spreading center is only 2–3 km thick in agreement with dredge and dive results. Crustal thickness increases to ∼5.5 km at distances between 100 and 430 km west of the spreading center...
Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, D.F. Coleman, William P. Dillon
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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