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Publications

For more than a century, USGS scientists have conducted research in California’s Bay-Delta region. Informing natural-resource management decisions on the region’s issues, this research has been published in thousands of documents, some highlighted below.

Filter Total Items: 307

Persistence of an introduced mud flat community in south San Francisco Bay, California Persistence of an introduced mud flat community in south San Francisco Bay, California

The benthic invertebrate community inhabiting the extensive and sedimentologically homogeneous mudflats of South San Francisco Bay has demonstrated a high degree of constancy in both species composition and relative abundance among species throughout 10 yr of observation. The community, composed predominantly of introduced species with opportunistic lifestyles, is dominated numerically...
Authors
Frederic H. Nichols, Janet K. Thompson

Subtidal sea level and current variations in the northern reach of San Francisco Bay Subtidal sea level and current variations in the northern reach of San Francisco Bay

Analyses of sea level and current-meter data using digital filters and a variety of statistical methods show a variety of phenomena related to non-local coastal forcing and local tidal forcing in the northern reach of San Francisco Bay, a partially mixed estuary. Low-frequency variations in sea level are dominated by non-local variations in coastal sea level and also show a smaller...
Authors
R. A. Walters, J. W. Gartner

Denitrification in San Francisco Bay intertidal sediments Denitrification in San Francisco Bay intertidal sediments

The acetylene block technique was employed to study denitrification in intertidal estuarine sediments. Addition of nitrate to sediment slurries stimulated denitrification. During the dry season, sediment-slurry denitrification rates displayed Michaelis-Menten kinetics, and ambient NO3− + NO2− concentrations (≤26 μM) were below the apparent Km (50 μM) for nitrate. During the rainy season...
Authors
Ronald S. Oremland, Cindy Umberger, Charles W. Culbertson, Richard L. Smith

On Lagrangian residual currents with applications in south San Francisco Bay, California On Lagrangian residual currents with applications in south San Francisco Bay, California

The Lagrangian residual circulation has often been introduced as the sum of the Eulerian residual circulation and the Stokes' drift. Unfortunately, this definition of the Lagrangian residual circulation is conceptually incorrect because both the Eulerian residual circulation and the Stokes' drift are Eulerian variables. In this paper a classification of various residual variables are...
Authors
Ralph T. Cheng, Vincenzo Casulli

Simulation model of Skeletonema costatum population dynamics in northern San Francisco Bay, California Simulation model of Skeletonema costatum population dynamics in northern San Francisco Bay, California

A pseudo-two-dimensional model is developed to simulate population dynamics of one dominant phytoplankton species (Skeletonema costatum) in northern San Francisco Bay. The model is formulated around a conceptualization of this estuary as two distinct but coupled subsystems—a deep (10–20 m) central channel and lateral areas with shallow (
Authors
J. E. Cloern, R. T. Cheng

High frequency radar measurements of tidal currents flowing through San Pablo Strait, San Francisco Bay High frequency radar measurements of tidal currents flowing through San Pablo Strait, San Francisco Bay

High frequency (HF) radar measurements of the surface current averaged over the upper 0.5 m in San Pablo Strait were compared with current meter measurements of the subsurface current made at 9.4 m below mean lower low water (MLLW) over two 12.4-h tidal cycles. After averaging the radar and current meter data over two tidal cycles, a southerly (ebbing direction) surface current of 32 cm...
Authors
Joseph W. Maresca, Robin R. Padden, Ralph T. Cheng, Erwin Seibel

Hydrographic properties and primary productivity of San Francisco Bay waters, March 1976-July 1977 Hydrographic properties and primary productivity of San Francisco Bay waters, March 1976-July 1977

Data are presented on the quantitative relations between water chemistry and phytoplankton productivity in San Francisco Bay between March 1976 and July 1977. Spatial distributions are listed for: salinity, temperature, transmission, chlorophyll-a, fluorescence, dissolved oxygen, orthophosphate, nitrate + nitrite, nitrite, ammonia, particulate organic carbon, alkalinity, pH, pCO2...
Authors
Brian E. Cole, Raynol E. Herndon

Field and modeling studies of San Francisco Bay Field and modeling studies of San Francisco Bay

No abstract available.
Authors
T. J. Conomos, F.H. Nichols, R. T. Cheng, D. H. Peterson

Late Quaternary depositional history, Holocene sea-level changes, and vertical crustal movement, southern San Francisco Bay, California Late Quaternary depositional history, Holocene sea-level changes, and vertical crustal movement, southern San Francisco Bay, California

Sediments collected for bridge foundation studies at southern San Francisco Bay, Calif., record estuaries that formed during Sangamon (100,000 years ago) and post-Wisconsin (less than 10,000 years ago) high stands of sea level. The estuarine deposits of Sangamon and post-Wisconsin ages are separated by alluvial and eolian deposits and by erosional unconformities and surfaces of...
Authors
Brian F. Atwater, Charles W. Hedel, Edward J. Helley
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