Images

We slip split cores into a labeled D-tube, and both are stored on specialized core racks in a walk-in sample refrigerator. USGS and non-USGS scientists often use our core and sample archives for new research. Contact the lab manager for access policies and other details.

Washing a sediment sample through two sieves with distilled water lets us measure the fractions of gravel (bigger than 2 millimeters or -1 phi) and sand (2 millimeters to 63 microns, -1 phi to 4 phi). Smaller sediment passes through the sieves into a standard 1-liter graduated cylinder.

Lab technician Angela Tan takes a sample of the sediment suspended in liquid, for analysis in one of several ways.

The Beckman Coulter LS 13 320 uses laser diffraction to automatically analyze sediment size fractions between 2 millimeters and 0.35 micron (-1 phi to 11.5 phi).

The settling tube is filled with water and a pre-weighed sediment sample of mixed particle sizes is poured onto this brass "gate" at the top of the tube. When the operator flips the switch, the gate opens quickly like a venetian blind, releasing the whole sediment sample into the water column at the same time.

Andrew Stevens runs a personal watercraft rigged with sonar and precision GPS to survey northern Monterey Bay, California.

Alex Snyder (left) and SeanPaul La Selle stay in radio contact with a personal watercraft operator offshore in order to provide supplies and safety near Moss Landing, California. 

The refrigerated sample repository of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, CA includes easily accessible shelving space which can store thousands of samples.

Dan Hoover takes a break near Moss Landing, California. Dan drives the all-terrain vehicle seen behind him to rapidly survey long sections of beach using precision GPS. 

Shawn Harrison surveys beach topography using a backpack equipped with precision GPS at Zmudowski State Beach, California. The fog-shrouded Moss Landing Power Plant looms in the background. 

Dann Blackwood, Jon Borden, and Steve Suttles of USGS ready to install moorings in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. USGS scientists measure water velocity, water quality, suspended sediment, and many other values to improve computer models of wetland changes in coastal National Park Service units, including Cape Cod National Seashore.

Jackson Currie maps ocean depths using a personal watercraft equipped with precision GPS and sonar near Capitola, California

Gerry Hatcher (left) and Shawn Harrison adjust a computer controlling video cameras on the roof of the Dream Inn, a 10-story hotel overlooking Monterey Bay in Santa Cruz, California. Harrison uses the images to improve understanding and computer modeling of beach processes. 

Shawn Harrison surveys beach topography using a precision GPS backpack on Twin Lakes State Beach, California. USGS researchers have measured coastal sediment supply and transport patterns in northern Monterey Bay for five years. Twice each year they survey the coast from Santa Cruz to Moss Landing with a variety of devices.

University of Washington's research vessel R/V Barnes is loaded with the USGS multichannel seismic system components GeoEel, Chirp, and boom plates.

High-resolution (10-meter per pixel) digital elevation model (DEM) of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, using both bathymetry and topography data relative to current modern datum of North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88). This DEM is the result of collaborative efforts of the U.S.

Exposed bedrock on the beach during very low (negative) tide at Isla Vista, California.

Dann Blackwood and Jon Borden inspect a current meter retrieved from the ocean using the research boat Muddy Waters near Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

The house with the USGS BeachCam is in the center of this image, taken Feb. 14, 2017 after a much smaller Noreaster. Visible in the foreground on the left are the remnants of the artificial dune (completely removed by the March 2018 storm), and on the right is the engineered protection put in place by private property owners. 

Exposed bedrock on the beach, below the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Bedrock exposed at low tide along the beach at Isla Vista, California