Renee Takesue
Science and Products
Estuaries and large river deltas in the Pacific Northwest
Essential habitat for wild salmon and other wildlife borders river deltas and estuaries in the Pacific Northwest. These estuaries also support industry, agriculture, and a large human population that’s expected to double by the year 2060, but each could suffer from more severe river floods, higher sea level, and storm surges caused by climate change.
Sources, timing, and fate of sediment and contaminants in the nearshore: insights from geochemistry
Rivers in Cascade watersheds carry sediment with a volcanic composition that is distinct from the plutonic composition of the Puget lowlands. Compositional properties (signatures) allow discrimination of river-sourced Cascade from lowland sediment, and inferences about transport pathways. Surface sediment on land contains atmospheric radionuclides...
Takesue, Renee K.; Conn, Kathleen E.; Dutch, Margaret
Stream sediment geochemistry of four small drainages on the north shore of Kauai west of Hanalei
Geochemical compositions of fine-grained stream sediment from four drainages on the north shore of the island of Kauai, Hawaii, west of Hanalei and two back-beach sites were explored to increase understanding about land-based runoff and ecological risk from runoff to nearshore coral communities. Stream and beach sediment were collected between...
Takesue, Renee K.; Storlazzi, Curt D.
Contaminant baselines and sediment provenance along the Puget Sound Energy Transport Corridor, 2015
The transport of coal and oil can result in contaminated soil, water, and organisms from unintended releases. Trains carrying coal and crude oil regularly pass through Puget Sound, Washington, and an increase in the number of coal and oil trains is expected in the future. This study characterized levels of potentially toxic contaminants in...
Takesue, Renee K.; Campbell, Pamela L. Geochemical sourcing of runoff from a young volcanic watershed to an impacted coral reef in Pelekane Bay, Hawaii
Runoff of sediment and other contaminants from developed watersheds threatens coastal ecosystems and services. A sediment geochemical sourcing study was undertaken on a sediment-impacted coral reef flat to identify terrestrial sediment sources and how these changed over time. Geochemical signatures were identified for watershed...
Takesue, Renee K.; Storlazzi, Curt D.
Tracking riverborne sediment and contaminants in Commencement Bay, Washington, using geochemical signatures
Large rivers carry terrestrial sediment, contaminants, and other materials to the coastal zone where they can affect marine biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems. This U.S. Geological Survey study combined river and marine sediment geochemistry and organic contaminant analyses to identify riverborne sediment and associated contaminants at shoreline...
Takesue, Renee K.; Conn, Kathleen E.; Dinicola, Richard S. Sources and dispersal of land-based runoff from small Hawaiian drainages to a coral reef: Insights from geochemical signatures
Land-based sediment and contaminant runoff is a major threat to coral reefs, and runoff reduction efforts would benefit from knowledge of specific runoff sources. Geochemical signatures of small drainage basins were determined in the fine fraction of soil and sediment, then used in the nearshore region of a coral reef-fringed urban embayment on...
Takesue, Renee K.; Storlazzi, Curt D.
Environmental and eelgrass response to dike removal: Nisqually River Delta (2010–14)
Restoration of tidal flows to formerly diked marshland can alter land-to-sea fluxes and patterns of accumulation of terrestrial sediment and organic matter, and these tidal flows can also affect existing nearshore habitats. Dikes were removed from 308 hectares (ha) of the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on the Nisqually River Delta in south...
Takesue, Renee K.
Eelgrass habitat near Liberty Bay: Chapter 5
Seagrasses are a widespread type of marine flowering plants that grow in nearshore intertidal and subtidal zones. Seagrass beds are ecologically important because they affect physical, biological, and chemical characteristics of nearshore habitat, and they are sensitive to changes in coastal water quality (Stevenson and others, 1993; Koch, 2001;...
Takesue, Renee K.; Dinicola, Richard S. Integration of bed characteristics, geochemical tracers, current measurements, and numerical modeling for assessing the provenance of beach sand in the San Francisco Bay Coastal System
Over 150 million m3 of sand-sized sediment has disappeared from the central region of the San Francisco Bay Coastal System during the last half century. This enormous loss may reflect numerous anthropogenic influences, such as watershed damming, bay-fill development, aggregate mining, and dredging. The reduction in Bay sediment also appears to be...
Barnard, P.L.; Jaffee, B.E.; Schoellhamer, D.H.; Barnard, Patrick L.; Foxgrover, Amy C.; Elias, Edwin P.L.; Erikson, Li H.; Hein, James R.; McGann, Mary; Mizell, Kira; Rosenbauer, Robert J.; Swarzenski, Peter W.; Takesue, Renee K.; Wong, Florence L.; Woodrow, Donald L.
Sediment geochemistry of Corte Madera Marsh, San Francisco Bay, California: have local inputs changed, 1830-2010?
Large perturbations since the mid-1800s to the supply and source of sediment entering San Francisco Bay have disturbed natural processes for more than 150 years. Only recently have sediment inputs through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (the Delta) decreased to what might be considered pre-disturbance levels. Declining sediment inputs to San...
Takesue, Renee K.; Jaffe, Bruce E. Integration of bed characteristics, geochemical tracers, current measurements, and numerical modeling for assessing the provenance of beach sand in the San Francisco Bay Coastal System
Over 150 million m3 of sand-sized sediment has disappeared from the central region of the San Francisco Bay Coastal System during the last half century. This enormous loss may reflect numerous anthropogenic influences, such as watershed damming, bay-fill development, aggregate mining, and dredging. The reduction in Bay sediment also appears to be...
Barnard, Patrick L.; Foxgrover, Amy C.; Elias, Edwin P.L.; Erikson, Li H.; Hein, James R.; McGann, Mary; Mizell, Kira; Rosenbauer, Robert J.; Swarzenski, Peter W.; Takesue, Renee K.; Wong, Florence L.; Woodrow, Don Arrival and expansion of the invasive foraminifera Trochammina hadai Uchio in Padilla Bay, Washington
Trochammina hadai Uchio, a benthic foraminifera native to Japanese estuaries, was first identified as an invasive in 1995 in San Francisco Bay and later in 16 other west coast estuaries. To investigate the timing of the arrival and expansion of this invasive species in Padilla Bay, Washington, we analyzed the distribution of foraminifera in...
McGann, Mary; Grossman, Eric E.; Takesue, Renee K.; Penttila, Dan; Walsh, John P.; Corbett, Reide
Tracking the movement of sediment and contaminants from northern California wildfire areas to San Francisco Bay
USGS research geologist Renee Takesue of the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center collected 20 sediment samples from Sonoma Creek and Napa River north of San Francisco Bay on March 17.