In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California's State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps and associated data layers through the collection, integration, interpretation, and visualization of swath sonar data, acoustic backscatter, seafloor video, seafloor photography, high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles, and bottom-sediment sampling data.
CSMP has divided coastal California into 110 map blocks (fig. 1), each to be published individually as USGS Scientific Investigations Maps (SIMs) at a scale of 1:24,000. The map products display seafloor morphology and character, identify potential marine benthic habitats, and illustrate both the seafloor geology and shallow (to about 100 m) subsurface geology.
This CSMP data catalog contains much of the data used to prepare the SIMs in the California State Waters Map Series. Other data that were used to prepare the maps were compiled from previously published sources (for example, onshore geology) and, thus, are not included herein.
