Publications

Earth’s biosphere is in a period of rapid change, resulting from anthropogenic pressures such as climate change, habitat loss and species translocation and extinction. The extraordinary pace of change has led to the suggestion that we live in a new geological epoch of time called the Anthropocene. In this theme issue, we explore the major changes to the terrestrial and marine biospheres...

Degradation of coral reefs over the past several decades has caused regional-scale erosion of the shallow seafloor that serves as a protective barrier against coastal hazards along southeast Florida, USA. How future change in coral reefs may affect coastal flooding, however, has been less attended than other factors contributing to increasing risks such as sea-level rise and more intense...

The erodibility of cohesive sediment is known to vary both spatially and temporally but the factors governing its variation are not well understood. We conducted a field investigation of the influence of hydrodynamic forcing, sediment properties, and benthic infauna on erodibility in the muddy shallows of San Pablo and Grizzly Bays in northern San Francisco Bay in summer 2019 and winter...

Momentum is growing for the management of coral reefs as a strategy to reduce climate risks in tropical coastlines. Yet, quantification of the life-time costs, impacts, and benefits remains limited. This study provides one of the first rigorous, spatially explicit, regional-scale Benefit:Cost Analyses (BCA) for coral reef restoration and was designed to meet the BCA requirements of major...

Sediment bulk density (ρ-dry) and particle size are two important parameters for predicting sediment bed erosion. ρ-dry, however, is difficult to measure accurately. The units of ρdry have not been consistently reported in the literature, leading to confusion, particularly in the calculation of sediment budgets that typically require integrating mass-based and volumetric components...

Satellite-derived shorelines (SDS) have the potential to help researchers answer critical coastal science questions and support work to predict coastal change by filling in the spatial and temporal gaps present in current field-based and remote-sensing data collection methods. The U.S. Geological Survey conducted comparison analyses of traditionally sourced shorelines and SDS in diverse...

This study examines the spatial variability of shallow groundwater on Dhigelaabadhoo Island using electromagnetic induction surveys, groundwater monitoring, and sediment analyses. The research reveals how variations in island morphology—such as differences in elevation, reef flat width, and sediment composition—affect the spatial distribution of groundwater lenses and the overall aquifer...

The Southern California Borderland (SCB) is a topographically complex region on the active continental margin that hosts varied hardground habitats, including ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts and phosphorites, marine minerals being considered for resource extraction. The SCB is influenced by seasonal upwelling and terrestrial inputs, and has a well-defined oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ). We...

Coral reefs near high human population areas suffer from sedimentation and increased turbidity due to coastal development. However, there is limited research on how key species respond to turbidity caused by terrigenous sediment and how this response may change with increased water temperatures. This study investigated the effects of ambient and elevated turbidity (+ 26 NTU) in...

Coral reef mortality around the world is accelerating due to human activities and rising sea temperatures that cause bleaching, which is expected to become more frequent. Our ability to predict which corals will be most resilient, however, remains limited due to insufficient information characterizing nearshore temperature and habitat conditions. In this study, we examine how submarine...

In 2021, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) acquired bathymetric and acoustic-backscatter data within Lake Sammamish, Washington. Mapping was completed to find evidence of past earthquakes such as underwater landslides and is part of a larger USGS project to understand the overall geologic hazards history of the Cascadia Margin region. The survey was conducted using the...

Ferromanganese mineral precipitation in the global oceans is ubiquitous, occurring in the form of both crusts and nodules at a broad range of depths and seafloor terrains. Although ferromanganese crusts and nodules are both composed of ferromanganese minerals, mineralogy and mean element concentrations compiled for regional crust versus nodule occurrences differ. Notably, most published