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Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.
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Filter Total Items: 1420
Hurricane wave energy dissipation and wave-driven currents over a fringing reef Hurricane wave energy dissipation and wave-driven currents over a fringing reef
In 2018, two successive tropical cyclones, Hurricane Hector and Hurricane Lane, generated waves that impacted the Hawaiian Islands. This study investigates wave breaking over a broad fringing reef and aims to quantify the magnitudes and length scales of the corresponding wave-driven circulation using detailed field observations and numerical models corresponding to these wave events...
Authors
Zoe Zimmerman, Ryan Mulligan, Curt D. Storlazzi
Seasonal and spatial patterns in sediment transport in an erosional marsh system Seasonal and spatial patterns in sediment transport in an erosional marsh system
Salt marshes provide expansive ecosystem services to coastal regions, including serving as bird and fish habitat, providing flood protection, and sequestering carbon and toxins (Barbier et al. 2011). While marshes are naturally dynamic, they are undergoing net loss in the 21st century largely due to lateral erosion (Camp- bell et al. 2022). In regions where marsh migration is constrained...
Authors
Lukas T. WinklerPrins, Jessica R. Lacy, Mark T. Stacey, Karen M. Thorne
International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 389 preliminary report: Hawaiian drowned reefs International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 389 preliminary report: Hawaiian drowned reefs
Our understanding of the mechanisms controlling eustatic sea level and global climate changes has been hampered by a lack of appropriate fossil coral records over the last 500 ky, particularly into and out of the glacial periods. This problem was addressed by International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 389 by drilling a unique succession of Hawaiian drowned coral reefs now at 110...
Authors
Jody M. Webster, Ana Christina Ravelo, Hannah L.J. Grant, Margaret Stewart, M. Rydzy, Erwan Le Ber, Nicola Allison, Brian Boston, Juan Carlos Braga, Logan Brenner, Xuefei Chen, Peter Chutcharavan, Andrea Dutton, Thomas Felis, Naoto Fukuyo, Eberhard Gischler, Sahra Greve, Amy Hagen, Youri Hamon, Ed Hathorne, Marc Humblet, Stephan Jorry, Pankaj Khanna, Helen V. McGregor, Richard A. Mortlock, Ulrike Prange, Theresa Nohl, Donald Potts, Ana Prohaska, Nancy G. Prouty, Willem Renema, Kenna Rubin, Hildegard Westphal, Yusuke Yokoyama, Marley Parker
Predicted exposure of communities in southeastern United States to climate-related coastal hazards Predicted exposure of communities in southeastern United States to climate-related coastal hazards
A rigorous analysis of 21st Century multi-hazard exposure for U.S. Southeast Atlantic coastal communities indicates that up to 70% of residents will be exposed daily to shallow and emerging groundwater by ~2100, 15 times higher than from surficial flooding alone. This threat further exacerbates other coastal stressors, such as flooding, subsidence, and beach erosion, that impact these...
Authors
Patrick L. Barnard, Peter W Swarzenski
Constraining the earthquake recording threshold of intraslab earthquakes with turbidites in southcentral Alaska’s lakes and fjords Constraining the earthquake recording threshold of intraslab earthquakes with turbidites in southcentral Alaska’s lakes and fjords
Strong ground motion from intraslab earthquakes, which do not produce primary paleoseismic evidence, may initiate gravity-driven turbidity flows in subaqueous basins. The resulting deposits (turbidites) can provide a paleoseismic proxy if the conditions that initiate these flows are known. To better constrain the initiating conditions, we use two recent intraslab earthquakes in...
Authors
Drake Moore Singleton, Daniel S. Brothers, Peter J. Haeussler, Robert C. Witter, Jenna C. Hill
California State Waters Map Series—Benthic habitat characterization in the region offshore Humboldt Bay, California California State Waters Map Series—Benthic habitat characterization in the region offshore Humboldt Bay, California
Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) geoform, substrate, and biotic component geographic information system (GIS) products were developed for the California State Waters of northern California in the region offshore of Humboldt Bay. The study was motivated by interest in development of offshore wind-energy capacity and infrastructure in Federal waters offshore...
Authors
Guy R. Cochrane
Projections of multiple climate-related coastal hazards for the US Southeast Atlantic Projections of multiple climate-related coastal hazards for the US Southeast Atlantic
Faced with accelerating sea level rise and changing ocean storm conditions, coastal communities require comprehensive assessments of climate-driven hazard impacts to inform adaptation measures. Previous studies have focused on flooding but rarely on other climate-related coastal hazards, such as subsidence, beach erosion and groundwater. Here, we project societal exposure to multiple...
Authors
Patrick L. Barnard, Kevin M. Befus, Jeffrey J. Danielson, Anita C Engelstad, Li H. Erikson, Amy C. Foxgrover, Maya Kumari Hayden, Daniel J. Hoover, Tim Leijnse, Chris Massey, Robert T. McCall, Norberto Nadal-Caraballo, Kees Nederhoff, Andrea C. O'Neill, Kai Alexander Parker, Manoochehr Shirzaei, Leonard O. Ohenhen, Peter W Swarzenski, Jennifer Anne Thomas, Maarten van Ormondt, Sean Vitousek, Killian Vos, Nathan J. Wood, Jeanne M. Jones, Jamie Jones
Scalable, data-assimilated models predict large-scale shoreline response to waves and sea-level rise Scalable, data-assimilated models predict large-scale shoreline response to waves and sea-level rise
Coastal change is a complex combination of multi-scale processes (e.g., wave-driven cross-shore and longshore transport; dune, bluff, and cliff erosion; overwash; fluvial and inlet sediment supply; and sea-level-driven recession). Historical sea-level-driven coastal recession on open ocean coasts is often outpaced by wave-driven change. However, future sea-level-driven coastal recession...
Authors
Sean Vitousek, Kilian Vos, Kristen D. Splinter, Kai Alexander Parker, Andrea C. O'Neill, Amy C. Foxgrover, Maya Kumari Hayden, Jennifer Anne Thomas, Li H. Erikson, Patrick L. Barnard
Neogene hydrothermal Fe- and Mn-oxide mineralization of Paleozoic continental rocks, Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean Neogene hydrothermal Fe- and Mn-oxide mineralization of Paleozoic continental rocks, Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean
Rocks dredged from water depths of 1,605, 2,500, 3,300, and 3,400 m in the Arctic Ocean included Paleozoic continental rocks pervasively mineralized during the Neogene by hydrothermal Fe and Mn oxides. Samples were recovered in three dredge hauls from the Chukchi Borderland and one from Mendeleev Ridge north of Alaska and eastern Siberia, respectively. Many of the rocks were so...
Authors
James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Amy Gartman
Exploring the dynamic interactions between the Southern San Andreas Fault and a normal fault under the Salton Sea Exploring the dynamic interactions between the Southern San Andreas Fault and a normal fault under the Salton Sea
We investigate the dynamic interactions between the Southern San Andreas Fault (SSAF) and a proximal normal fault (NF) beneath the Salton Sea in southern California. The NF, positioned near the SSAF terminus at Bombay Beach, exhibits 11–15 displacement events across 14 stratigraphic sequences, with a range of 0.2–1.4 m of vertical offset since ∼2–3 ka. Notably, four of these events may...
Authors
Luis Ivan Bazan Flores, Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos, David D. Oglesby, Aron J. Meltzner, Thomas K. Rockwell, John M. Fletcher, Daniel S. Brothers
Deep-ocean macrofaunal assemblages on ferromanganese and phosphorite-rich substrates in the Southern California Borderland Deep-ocean macrofaunal assemblages on ferromanganese and phosphorite-rich substrates in the Southern California Borderland
Mineral-rich hardgrounds, such as ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts and phosphorites, occur on seamounts and continental margins, gaining attention for their resource potential due to their enrichment in valuable metals in some regions. This study focuses on the Southern California Borderland (SCB), an area characterized by uneven and heterogeneous topography featuring FeMn crusts...
Authors
Michelle Guraieb, Guillermo F Mendoza, Kira Mizell, Gregory W. Rouse, R.A. McCarthy, Olivia S. Pereira, Lisa A. Levin
The projected exposure and response of a natural barrier island system to climate-driven coastal hazards The projected exposure and response of a natural barrier island system to climate-driven coastal hazards
Accelerating sea level rise (SLR) and changing storm patterns will increasingly expose barrier islands to coastal hazards, including flooding, erosion, and rising groundwater tables. We assess the exposure of Cape Lookout National Seashore, a barrier island system in North Carolina (USA), to projected SLR and storm hazards over the twenty-first century. We estimate that with 0.5 m of SLR...
Authors
Jennifer Anne Thomas, Patrick L. Barnard, Sean Vitousek, Li H. Erikson, Kai Alexander Parker, Kees Nederhoff, Kevin M. Befus, Manoochehr Shirzaei