Peter Dartnell
Science and Products
U.S. West Coast and Alaska Marine Geohazards
Marine geohazards are sudden and extreme events beneath the ocean that threaten coastal populations. Such underwater hazards include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and tsunamis.
Devastating earthquakes in Japan (2011) and Chile (2010) that spawned pan-oceanic tsunamis sent a sobering reminder that U.S. coastlines are also vulnerable to natural disasters that originate in...
California Seafloor Mapping Program
The California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP) is a cooperative program to create a comprehensive coastal/marine geologic and habitat base map series for all of California's State waters. The California Ocean Protection Council (COPC) authorized funds to establish the CSMP in 2007 and assembled a team of experts from state and federal agencies, academia, and private industry to develop the...
2019 USGS-NOAA Multibeam Bathymetry
Multibeam bathymetric surveys conducted offshore of Oregon and northern California in 2019, a USGS-NOAA partnership
Mapping Crater Lake, Oregon
Information about the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center's Crater Lake mapping project in the summer of 2000.
Mapping Shipping Hazards in San Francisco Bay
Information about the 1997-1998 study by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, to map the floor of San Francisco Bay in order to reveal the bay's shipping hazards.
Composite multibeam bathymetry surface and data sources of the southern Cascadia Margin offshore Oregon and northern California
Bathymetry data from various sources, including newly released 2018 and 2019 multibeam data collected by NOAA and the USGS, were combined to create a composite 30-m resolution multibeam bathymetry surface of the southern Cascadia Margin offshore of Oregon and northern California. The bathymetry data are available as a 30-m resolution geoTIFF file, accompanied by a polygon shapefile
Grain-size data for sediment samples collected in Whiskeytown Lake, northern California, in 2018 and 2019
The USGS measured topographic change associated with sediment deposition and erosion in and around Whiskeytown Lake after the Carr Fire, in order to support calculations of post-fire sediment yield from the surrounding landscape. This data release includes grain-size data from sediment samples collected in submerged and subaerial regions in Whiskeytown Lake and around the reservoir margin.
Bathymetry and acoustic backscatter data collected in 2008 offshore Tijuana River Estuary, California during USGS Field Activity S-5-08-SC
In 2008 the USGS collected bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter data offshore the Tijuana River Estuary, California. Mapping was conducted as part of the Tijuana Estuary Fine Sediment Fate and Transport Demonstration Project, which was developed by a number of State of California, federal, and private industry partners to provide information about the directions, rates, and processes of fine...
Bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter data collected in 2016 offshore the Elwha River mouth, Washington, during USGS Field Activity 2016-605-FA
This data release provides bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter data collected during a 2016 SWATHPlus-M survey offshore the Elwha River mouth, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington. Data were collected and processed by the USGS during field activity 2016-605-FA. This survey, along with two other surveys, was conducted to map changes that have occurred following sediment input from dam removals...
Bathymetry, topography and orthomosaic imagery for Whiskeytown Lake, northern California
Approximately 93% of the area within Whiskeytown National Recreation Area was burned extensively during the Carr Fire, including all of the landscape surrounding and draining into Whiskeytown Lake. The lake, a federally managed reservoir, therefore acted as a sediment trap for material eroded from hillslopes and streambeds in the aftermath of the Carr Fire. USGS measured
Multibeam bathymetry, acoustic backscatter, and multichannel minisparker seismic-reflection data of USGS field activity 2016-666-FA collected in the Santa Barbara Basin in September and October of 2016
High-resolution multichannel minkisparker seismic-reflection profiles were collected by the USGS in September and October of 2016 from the northern portion of the Santa Barbara Basin offshore southern California. Data were collected aboard USGS R/V Parke Snavely and NOAA R/V Shearwater during field activity 2016-666-FA. Data were acquired to support USGS geologic hazards...
Sediment transport and aquatic vegetation data from three locations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California, 2017 to 2018
We measured currents, suspended-sediment concentration, bed sediment characteristics, and vegetation biomass density in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in 2017-2018, as part of a project investigating the influence of invasive aquatic vegetation on flow and sediment flux. This data release includes data from three sites: Lindsey Slough, Middle River, and lower Mokelumne River.
Bathymetry, topography, and acoustic backscatter data, and a digital elevation model (DEM) of the Cache Slough Complex and Sacramento River Deep Water Ship Channel, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California
This data release presents bathymetric and topographic data from surveys performed between 2017 and 2018 in the Cache Slough Complex and the Sacramento River Deep Water Ship Channel (DWSC), northern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California. The shallow, highly vegetated aquatic habitats of this region necessitated a variety of survey platforms and techniques. In the deeper channels, swath...
California State Waters Map Series Data Catalog
This data catalog contains much of the data used to prepare the OFRs, SIRs, and 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. GIS data files for map areas offshore of California are listed with a brief description, a small image, and...
Bathymetry, acoustic backscatter, and minisparker seismic-reflection datasets collected southwest of Montague Island and southwest of Chenega, Alaska during field activity 2014-622-FA
High-resolution acoustic backscatter data, bathymetry data, single channel minisparker seismic-reflection data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in May of 2014 southwest of Chenega Island and southwest of Montague Island, Alaska. Data were collected aboard the Alaska Department of Fish and Game vessel, R/V Solstice.
Bathymetry, acoustic-backscatter, and time-series datasets collected between 2014 and 2016 of a field of crescent-shaped rippled scour depressions in northern Monterey Bay, California
Between 11/14-6/16 USGS PCMSC conducted 8 repeat, high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter surveys of a small patch of seafloor offshore Santa Cruz in northern Monterey Bay, California. We also collected oceanographic time-series data over the same two-year period. This data release provides the eight bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter datasets, the time-series data, and FGDC...
High-resolution bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter data collected in 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2010 in Skagit Bay, Washington
This data release provides the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2010 bathymetry data that was collected in Skagit Bay, Washington as well as a merged 2005-2010 bathymetry grid. Also, this data release provides the acoustic-backscatter as a merged 2005-2010 backscatter image.
Watershed sediment yield following the 2018 Carr Fire, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, northern California
Wildfire risk has increased in recent decades over many regions, due to warming climate and other factors. Increased sediment export from recently burned landscapes can jeopardize downstream infrastructure and water resources, but physical landscape response to fire has not been quantified for some at-risk areas, including much of northern...
East, Amy E.; Logan, Joshua B.; Dartnell, Peter; Lieber-Kotz, Oren; Cavagnaro, David B.; McCoy, Scott W.; Lindsay, Donald N.
Colored shaded-relief bathymetry, acoustic backscatter, and selected perspective views of the northern part of the California Continental Borderland, southern California
The California Continental Borderland is the complex continental margin in southern California that extends from Point Conception southward into northern Baja California (Fisher and others, 2009). This colored shaded-relief bathymetry map of the northern continental borderland in southern California was generated primarily from multibeam-...
Dartnell, Peter; Roland, Emily C.; Raineault, Nicole A.; Castillo, Christopher M.; Conrad, James E.; Kane, Renato; Brothers, Daniel S.; Kluesner, Jared; Walton, Maureen A. L. Focused fluid flow and methane venting along the Queen Charlotte fault, offshore Alaska (USA) and British Columbia (Canada)
Fluid seepage along obliquely deforming plate boundaries can be an important indicator of crustal permeability and influence on fault-zone mechanics and hydrocarbon migration. The ~850-km-long Queen Charlotte fault (QCF) is the dominant structure along the right-lateral transform boundary that separates the Pacific and North American tectonic...
Prouty, Nancy G.; Brothers, Daniel; Kluesner, Jared; Barrie, J. Vaughn; Andrews, Brian D.; Lauer, Rachel; Greene, Gary; Conrad, James E.; Lorenson, Thomas; Law, Michael D.; Sahy, Diana; Conway, Kim; McGann, Mary; Dartnell, Peter Sediment export and impacts associated with river delta channelization compound estuary vulnerability to sea-level rise, Skagit River Delta, Washington, USA
Improved understanding of the budget and retention of sediment in river deltas is becoming increasingly important to mitigate and plan for impacts expected with sea level rise. In this study, analyses of historical bathymetric change, sediment core stratigraphy, and modeling are used to evaluate the sediment budget and environmental response of...
Grossman, Eric E.; Stevens, Andrew W.; Dartnell, Peter; George, Doug A; Finlayson, David Morphology, structure, and kinematics of the San Clemente and Catalina faults based on high-resolution marine geophysical data, southern California Inner Continental Borderland
Catalina Basin, located within the southern California Inner Continental Borderland (ICB), is traversed by two active submerged fault systems that are part of the broader North America-Pacific plate boundary: the San Clemente fault (along with a prominent splay, the Kimki fault) and the Catalina fault. Previous studies have suggested that the San...
Walton, Maureen A. L.; Brothers, Daniel; Conrad, James E.; Maier, Katherine L.; Roland, Emily C.; Kluesner, Jared; Dartnell, Peter Plate boundary localization, slip-rates and rupture segmentation of the Queen Charlotte Fault based on submarine tectonic geomorphology
Linking fault behavior over many earthquake cycles to individual earthquake behavior is a primary goal in tectonic geomorphology, particularly across an entire plate boundary. Here, we examine the 1150-km-long, right-lateral Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system using comprehensive multibeam bathymetry data acquired along the Queen Charlotte...
Brothers, Daniel; Miller, Nathaniel C.; Vaughn Barrie; Haeussler, Peter; H. Gary Greene; Andrews, Brian D.; Olaf Zielke; Dartnell, Peter
Offshore shallow structure and sediment distribution, Point Sur to Point Arguello, central California
This publication consists of three map sheets that display shallow geologic structure, along with sediment distribution and thickness, for an about 225-km-long offshore section of the central California coast between Point Sur and Point Arguello. Each map sheet includes three maps, at scales of either 1:150,000 or 1:200,000, as well as a set of...
Johnson, Samuel Y.; Hartwell, Stephen R.; Watt, Janet T.; Beeson, Jeffrey W.; Dartnell, Peter Morphodynamics of a field of crescent-shaped rippled scour depressions: Northern Monterey Bay, CA
Despite the prevalence of rippled scour depression (RSD) on the world's continental shelves and their importance as nursery habitats for many commercially-important species, the processes responsible for their formation and geomorphic evolution are still not well understood. Most studies that focused on RSD evolution have been based on...
Rosenberger, Kurt J.; Storlazzi, Curt D.; Dartnell, Peter The tectonically controlled San Gabriel Channel–Lobe Transition Zone, Catalina Basin, Southern California Borderland
High-resolution geophysical data across the Catalina Basin, offshore southern California, USA, reveal a complex channel–lobe transition zone (CLTZ) and provide an opportunity to characterize an entire seafloor CLTZ in a tectonically active and confined-basin setting. The seafloor morphology, distribution of depositional and erosional features, and...
Maier, Katherine L.; Roland, Emily C.; Walton, Maureen A. L.; Conrad, James E.; Brothers, Daniel S.; Dartnell, Peter; Kluesner, Jared W. Geology of San Francisco
No abstract available.
Graymer, Russell W.; Givler, Robert; Baldwin, John; Lettis, William; Johnson, Samuel; Greene, H. Gary; Dartnell, Peter
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Point Conception, California
IntroductionIn 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...
Johnson, Samuel Y.; Cochran, Susan A.; Johnson, Samuel Y.; Dartnell, Peter; Cochrane, Guy R.; Hartwell, Stephen R.; Golden, Nadine E.; Kvitek, Rikk G.; Davenport, Clifton W.
California State Waters Map Series—Offshore of Gaviota, California
IntroductionIn 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...
Johnson, Samuel Y.; Cochran, Susan A.; Johnson, Samuel Y.; Dartnell, Peter; Cochrane, Guy R.; Hartwell, Stephen R.; Golden, Nadine E.; Kvitek, Rikk G.; Davenport, Clifton W.