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S. Jeffress Williams

S. Jeffress Williams, a senior scientist emeritus, research coastal marine geologist with the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA, has focused his research career on understanding the geologic history and processes of coastal, estuarine, wetland, and inner continental shelf regions.

He has more than 50 years research experience investigating topics on the geologic origins and development of coastal, continental shelf, and estuarine regions, Great Lakes coastal systems, Holocene sea-level history, climate-change effects on coasts, and the geologic origins and character of marine sand bodies. Williams has led or participated in more than 80 field studies along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, Great Lakes coasts, and the Irish Sea, UK and been principal investigator on many offshore geologic mapping investigations. Williams was awarded the Coastal Zone Foundation Award for career achievement in coastal science, the USGS 40-year career service award and career achievement awards for natural resources research from the Eastern Regional Director of the National Park Service and the Director of the NPS. Williams has authored more than 350 scientific publications and been a member on many national and state science committees. In addition, he is a frequent lecturer at scientific meetings, state and local legislatures, and civic groups on coastal topics. Williams directed the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program from 1996 to 2000. Prior to joining the USGS, Williams was a research marine geologist with the Coastal Engineering Research Center and an invited visiting scientist at the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Taunton, UK. He earned degrees in geology and oceanography.

Professional Experience

  • Present- 2010 Senior scientist emeritus, USGS/WHSC

    Present- 2010 Professional coastal scientist, consultant

    2015-2010 Affiliate Faculty, Un.of Hawaii, Geology Department

    2010- 2000 Senior research coastal-marine geologist, USGS/WHSC

    2000- 1996 Director, USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program

    1996-1993 Research geologist, USGS

    1993-1987 Co-coordinator, USGS National Coastal Geology Program

Education and Certifications

  • MS Lehigh University

    BS Allegheny College

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • Organized and co-chaired a special session, “Coasts in Crisis: Sea Level Rise and Inundation and the Drivers for Adaptation”, 2016 AGU Ocean Sciences Mtg.

    Invited technical expert, Hawaii Sea-Level R

Science and Products

Atlas of shoreline changes from 1853 to 1989 : Louisiana barrier island erosion study

No abstract available.
USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep strat
USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log
USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log
USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep strat

USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log

USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log

USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep stratigraphic test hole drilled by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey at the edge of a Marcellus Shale production well pad in Lycoming County, PA.

By
Water Resources Mission Area, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Communications and Publishing
USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep strat

USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log

USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log

USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep stratigraphic test hole drilled by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey at the edge of a Marcellus Shale production well pad in Lycoming County, PA.

By
Water Resources Mission Area, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Communications and Publishing
Filter Total Items: 87

Coastal landforms and processes at the Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts—A primer

Anyone who spends more than a few days on Cape Cod (the Cape) quickly becomes a coastal geologist, quickly learning the rhythms of daily tides and the seasonal cycles of beaches growing and being swept away by storms; swimmers and surfers track how the breakers appear, and dog-walkers notice the hard-packed sand blanketed overnight by an airy layer that leaves deep labored tracks. Careful observer
Authors
Graham S. Giese, S. Jeffress Williams, Mark Adams
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

The potential for sea-level-rise-induced barrier island loss: Insights from the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, USA

As sea level rises and hurricanes become more intense, barrier islands around the world become increasingly vulnerable to conversion from self-sustaining migrating landforms to submerging or subaqueous sand bodies. To explore the mechanism by which such state changes occur and to assess the factors leading to island disintegration, we develop a suite of numerical simulations for the Chandeleur Isl
Authors
Laura J. Moore, Kiki Patsch, Jeffrey H. List, S. Jeffress Williams
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Introduction to the special issue on “Understanding and predicting change in the coastal ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico”

The coastal region of the northern Gulf of Mexico owes its current landscape structure to an array of tectonic, erosional and depositional, climatic, geochemical, hydrological, ecological, and human processes that have resulted in some of the world's most complex, dynamic, productive, and threatened ecosystems. Catastrophic hurricane landfalls, ongoing subsidence and erosion exacerbated by sea-lev
Authors
John Brock, John A. Barras, S. Jeffress Williams
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Coastal Changes and Impacts, Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project, Gulf of Mexico

Character of shell beds flanking Herod Point Shoal, southeastern Long Island Sound, New York

High biogenic productivity, strong tidal currents, shoal topography, and short transport distances combine to favor shell-bed formation along the lower flanks of a cape-associated shoal off Herod Point on Long Island, New York. This shell bed has a densely packed, clast-supported fabric composed largely of undegraded surf clam (Spisula solidissima) valves. It is widest along the central part of th
Authors
Lawrence J. Poppe, S. Jeffress Williams, Ivar G. Babb
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Barriers on the brink? The complex intertwined roles of geologic framework, sediment availability and sea-level rise in island evolution

Sensitivity experiments in the North Carolina Outer Banks (OBX) have previously revealed that substrate sand proportion, followed by substrate slope, sea-level rise rate and sediment-loss rate are the most important factors in determining how barrier islands respond to sea-level rise. High sediment-loss rates and low substrate sand proportions cause barriers to be smaller and more deeply incised.
Authors
Laura Moore, Jeffrey H. List, S. Jeffress Williams, Kiki Patsch
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Coastal vulnerability assessment of the Northern Gulf of Mexico to sea-level rise and coastal change

A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was used to map the relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise along the Northern Gulf of Mexico from Galveston, TX, to Panama City, FL. The CVI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of relative sea-level rise, historical shoreline change
Authors
E.A. Pendleton, J.A. Barras, S.J. Williams, D. C. Twichell
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

A review of sediment budget imbalances along Fire Island, New York: Can nearshore geologic framework and patterns of shoreline change explain the deficit?

Sediment budget analyses conducted for annual to decadal timescales report variable magnitudes of littoral transport along the south shore of Long Island, New York. It is well documented that the primary transport component is directed alongshore from east to west, but relatively little information has been reported concerning the directions or magnitudes of cross-shore components. Our review of b
Authors
Cheryl J. Hapke, Erika E. Lentz, Paul T. Gayes, Clayton A. McCoy, Rachel E. Henderson, William C. Schwab, S. Jeffress Williams
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Complexities in barrier island response to sea level rise: Insights from numerical model experiments, North Carolina Outer Banks

Using a morphological-behavior model to conduct sensitivity experiments, we investigate the sea level rise response of a complex coastal environment to changes in a variety of factors. Experiments reveal that substrate composition, followed in rank order by substrate slope, sea level rise rate, and sediment supply rate, are the most important factors in determining barrier island response to sea l
Authors
Laura J. Moore, Jeffrey H. List, S. Jeffress Williams, David Stolper
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Coastal sensitivity to sea level rise— A focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region

This Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP), developed as part of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, examines potential effects of sea-level rise from climate change during the twenty-first century, with a focus on the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. Using scientific literature and policy-related documents, the SAP describes the physical environments; potential changes to coastal en
Authors
James G. Titus, K. Eric Anderson, Donald R. Cahoon, Dean B. Gesch, Stephen K. Gill, Benjamin T. Gutierrez, E. Robert Thieler, S. Jeffress Williams
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Eastern Ecological Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Review of the geologic history of the Pontchartrain Basin, northern Gulf of Mexico

The Pontchartrain Basin extends over 44,000 km² from northern Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and includes one of the largest and most important estuarine systems in the United States. The basin supports a variety of environments, from woodlands in the north to wetlands in the south, and a growing socioeconomic infrastructure that has led to rapid development of the southern half of the basin ov
Authors
James G Flocks, Mark Kulp, Jackie L Smith, S. Jeffress Williams
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sea-level rise and coastal change: Causes and implications for the future of coasts and low-lying regions

No abstract available.
Authors
S. Jeffress Williams, Benjamin T. Gutierrez
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Mineral Resource Assessment of Marine Sand Resources in Cape- and Ridge-Associated Marine Sand Deposits in Three Tracts, New York and New Jersey, United States Atlantic Continental Shelf

Demand is growing in the United States and worldwide for information about the geology of offshore continental shelf regions, the character of the seafloor, and sediments comprising the seafloor and subbottom. Interest in locating sand bodies or high quality deposits that have potential as sources for beach nourishment and ecosystem restoration is especially great in some regions of the country. T
Authors
James D. Bliss, S. Jeffress Williams, Matthew A. Arsenault
By
Mineral Resources Program

Science and Products

Atlas of shoreline changes from 1853 to 1989 : Louisiana barrier island erosion study

No abstract available.
USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep strat
USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log
USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log
USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep strat

USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log

USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log

USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep stratigraphic test hole drilled by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey at the edge of a Marcellus Shale production well pad in Lycoming County, PA.

By
Water Resources Mission Area, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Communications and Publishing
USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep strat

USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log

USGS scientists prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log

USGS scientists J. Alton Anderson and Dennis W. Risser prepare to collect a full-waveform sonic log from a 1,000-foot deep stratigraphic test hole drilled by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey at the edge of a Marcellus Shale production well pad in Lycoming County, PA.

By
Water Resources Mission Area, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Communications and Publishing
Filter Total Items: 87

Coastal landforms and processes at the Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts—A primer

Anyone who spends more than a few days on Cape Cod (the Cape) quickly becomes a coastal geologist, quickly learning the rhythms of daily tides and the seasonal cycles of beaches growing and being swept away by storms; swimmers and surfers track how the breakers appear, and dog-walkers notice the hard-packed sand blanketed overnight by an airy layer that leaves deep labored tracks. Careful observer
Authors
Graham S. Giese, S. Jeffress Williams, Mark Adams
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

The potential for sea-level-rise-induced barrier island loss: Insights from the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, USA

As sea level rises and hurricanes become more intense, barrier islands around the world become increasingly vulnerable to conversion from self-sustaining migrating landforms to submerging or subaqueous sand bodies. To explore the mechanism by which such state changes occur and to assess the factors leading to island disintegration, we develop a suite of numerical simulations for the Chandeleur Isl
Authors
Laura J. Moore, Kiki Patsch, Jeffrey H. List, S. Jeffress Williams
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Introduction to the special issue on “Understanding and predicting change in the coastal ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico”

The coastal region of the northern Gulf of Mexico owes its current landscape structure to an array of tectonic, erosional and depositional, climatic, geochemical, hydrological, ecological, and human processes that have resulted in some of the world's most complex, dynamic, productive, and threatened ecosystems. Catastrophic hurricane landfalls, ongoing subsidence and erosion exacerbated by sea-lev
Authors
John Brock, John A. Barras, S. Jeffress Williams
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Coastal Changes and Impacts, Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project, Gulf of Mexico

Character of shell beds flanking Herod Point Shoal, southeastern Long Island Sound, New York

High biogenic productivity, strong tidal currents, shoal topography, and short transport distances combine to favor shell-bed formation along the lower flanks of a cape-associated shoal off Herod Point on Long Island, New York. This shell bed has a densely packed, clast-supported fabric composed largely of undegraded surf clam (Spisula solidissima) valves. It is widest along the central part of th
Authors
Lawrence J. Poppe, S. Jeffress Williams, Ivar G. Babb
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Barriers on the brink? The complex intertwined roles of geologic framework, sediment availability and sea-level rise in island evolution

Sensitivity experiments in the North Carolina Outer Banks (OBX) have previously revealed that substrate sand proportion, followed by substrate slope, sea-level rise rate and sediment-loss rate are the most important factors in determining how barrier islands respond to sea-level rise. High sediment-loss rates and low substrate sand proportions cause barriers to be smaller and more deeply incised.
Authors
Laura Moore, Jeffrey H. List, S. Jeffress Williams, Kiki Patsch
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Coastal vulnerability assessment of the Northern Gulf of Mexico to sea-level rise and coastal change

A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was used to map the relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise along the Northern Gulf of Mexico from Galveston, TX, to Panama City, FL. The CVI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of relative sea-level rise, historical shoreline change
Authors
E.A. Pendleton, J.A. Barras, S.J. Williams, D. C. Twichell
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

A review of sediment budget imbalances along Fire Island, New York: Can nearshore geologic framework and patterns of shoreline change explain the deficit?

Sediment budget analyses conducted for annual to decadal timescales report variable magnitudes of littoral transport along the south shore of Long Island, New York. It is well documented that the primary transport component is directed alongshore from east to west, but relatively little information has been reported concerning the directions or magnitudes of cross-shore components. Our review of b
Authors
Cheryl J. Hapke, Erika E. Lentz, Paul T. Gayes, Clayton A. McCoy, Rachel E. Henderson, William C. Schwab, S. Jeffress Williams
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Complexities in barrier island response to sea level rise: Insights from numerical model experiments, North Carolina Outer Banks

Using a morphological-behavior model to conduct sensitivity experiments, we investigate the sea level rise response of a complex coastal environment to changes in a variety of factors. Experiments reveal that substrate composition, followed in rank order by substrate slope, sea level rise rate, and sediment supply rate, are the most important factors in determining barrier island response to sea l
Authors
Laura J. Moore, Jeffrey H. List, S. Jeffress Williams, David Stolper
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Coastal sensitivity to sea level rise— A focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region

This Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP), developed as part of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, examines potential effects of sea-level rise from climate change during the twenty-first century, with a focus on the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. Using scientific literature and policy-related documents, the SAP describes the physical environments; potential changes to coastal en
Authors
James G. Titus, K. Eric Anderson, Donald R. Cahoon, Dean B. Gesch, Stephen K. Gill, Benjamin T. Gutierrez, E. Robert Thieler, S. Jeffress Williams
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Eastern Ecological Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Review of the geologic history of the Pontchartrain Basin, northern Gulf of Mexico

The Pontchartrain Basin extends over 44,000 km² from northern Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and includes one of the largest and most important estuarine systems in the United States. The basin supports a variety of environments, from woodlands in the north to wetlands in the south, and a growing socioeconomic infrastructure that has led to rapid development of the southern half of the basin ov
Authors
James G Flocks, Mark Kulp, Jackie L Smith, S. Jeffress Williams
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sea-level rise and coastal change: Causes and implications for the future of coasts and low-lying regions

No abstract available.
Authors
S. Jeffress Williams, Benjamin T. Gutierrez
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Mineral Resource Assessment of Marine Sand Resources in Cape- and Ridge-Associated Marine Sand Deposits in Three Tracts, New York and New Jersey, United States Atlantic Continental Shelf

Demand is growing in the United States and worldwide for information about the geology of offshore continental shelf regions, the character of the seafloor, and sediments comprising the seafloor and subbottom. Interest in locating sand bodies or high quality deposits that have potential as sources for beach nourishment and ecosystem restoration is especially great in some regions of the country. T
Authors
James D. Bliss, S. Jeffress Williams, Matthew A. Arsenault
By
Mineral Resources Program

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government

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