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Theresa Fregoso

Geographer at the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Science and Products

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San Francisco Bay, California, consists of several subembayments. North Bay consists of Honker, Suisun, and Grizzly Bays.

San Francisco Bay Bathymetry

Bathymetry of a dynamic tidal estuary, such as San Francisco Bay, provides the observable linkage between anthropogenic modifications of the landscape—such as evolving land use practices, flood control, and water diversions—and natural forces of climate-driven river flow, sea level change, tides, and wind. By examining our record of hydrographic surveys, spanning over 150 years, we can gain...
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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San Francisco Bay Bathymetry

Bathymetry of a dynamic tidal estuary, such as San Francisco Bay, provides the observable linkage between anthropogenic modifications of the landscape—such as evolving land use practices, flood control, and water diversions—and natural forces of climate-driven river flow, sea level change, tides, and wind. By examining our record of hydrographic surveys, spanning over 150 years, we can gain...
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Illustration showing the contours of the bay floor underwater and the relief of surrounding hills, and dots.

San Francisco Bay geomorphology

This research is part of the project, “Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments.”
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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San Francisco Bay geomorphology

This research is part of the project, “Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments.”
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High-resolution (1 m) digital elevation model (DEM) of San Francisco Bay, California, created using bathymetry data collected between 1999 and 2020 (ver. 2.0, July 2021)

A 1-m resolution bathymetric digital elevation model (DEM) of all off San Francisco Bay was constructed from bathymetric surveys collected from 1999 to 2016. The DEM has been divided into northern and southern sections due to file size, and is available in both MLLW and NAVD88 versions. Background: In 2014 and 2015 the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) contracted the collection of bathy
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Pilot study on bathymetric change analyses in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California

The bathymetry of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta affects the flow of water and sediment throughout the system and is a basic control on levee stability, habitat distribution, and water quality. Delta bathymetry is dynamic, responding to both natural forces and human activities. Assessment of future Delta conditions is aided by understanding how its bathymetry has changed in the past. This pilot
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Projected flood water depths on Roi-Namur, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands

Projected future wave-driven flooding depths on Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands for a range of climate-change scenarios. This study utilized field data to calibrate oceanographic and hydrogeologic models, which were then used with climate-change and sea-level rise projections to explore the effects of sea-level rise and wave-driven flooding on atoll isl
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Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Bathymetry and acoustic backscatter data of the Sacramento River, from the Feather River to Knights Landing, California in February, 2011

On February 1, 2011, the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (PCMSC) team carried out a project using interferometric sidescan sonar to characterize the riverbed and channel banks of a 12 mile reach of the Sacramento River near the town of Knights Landing, California (River Mile 79 through River Mile 91). The project was developed in coordination with David Smith, Engineering Research a
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Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Gravity cores from San Pablo Bay and Carquinez Strait, San Francisco Bay, California

This data release contains information on gravity cores that were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in the area of San Pablo Bay and Carquinez Strait, California in 1990, 1991, and 2000. Ten (10) pdf files describe gravity cores that were split, photographed, and imaged by X-rays, and another pdf file contains a core-log legend. In addition, a shapefile (sanpablo_spls.shp) provides sample co
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

San Francisco Bay Delta Bathymetric/Topographic digital elevation model (DEM) - 2016 SF Bay Delta DEM 10-m

A high-resolution (10-meter per pixel) digital elevation model (DEM) was created for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta using both bathymetry and topography data. This DEM is the result of collaborative efforts of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). The base of the DEM is from a 10-m DEM released in 2004 and updated in 2005 (Foxgrover and others,
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Description of gravity cores from San Pablo Bay and Carquinez Strait, San Francisco Bay, California

Seventy-two gravity cores were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1990, 1991, and 2000 from San Pablo Bay and Carquinez Strait, California. The gravity cores collected within San Pablo Bay contain bioturbated laminated silts and sandy clays, whole and broken bivalve shells (mostly mussels), fossil tube structures, and fine-grained plant or wood fragments. Gravity cores from the channel wal
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Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

A new seamless, high-resolution digital elevation model of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, California

Climate change, sea-level rise, and human development have contributed to the changing geomorphology of the San Francisco Bay - Delta (Bay-Delta) Estuary system. The need to predict scenarios of change led to the development of a new seamless, high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the Bay – Delta that can be used by modelers attempting to understand potential future changes to the estua
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Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Estuarine sedimentation, sediment character, and foraminiferal distribution in central San Francisco Bay, California

Central San Francisco Bay is the deepest subembayment in the San Francisco Bay estuary and hence has the largest water volume of any of the subembayments. It also has the strongest tidal currents and the coarsest sediment within the estuary. Tidal currents are strongest over the west-central part of central bay and, correspondingly, this area is dominated by sand-size sediment. Much of the area ea
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Mapping South San Francisco Bay's seabed diversity for use in wetland restoration planning

In an effort to understand the role of sediment of South San Francisco Bay (South Bay) salt ponds, an acoustic seabed classification was performed with the condition of over two hundred sediment samples.  The success of the large-scale tidal wetland restoration  of up to 15,000 acres of South Bay partly depends on the ability of the converted ponds to acquire and retain enough sediment to support

Bathymetry and digital elevation models of Coyote Creek and Alviso Slough, South San Francisco Bay, California

In 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center completed three cruises to map the bathymetry of the main channel and shallow intertidal mudflats in the southernmost part of south San Francisco Bay. The three surveys were merged to generate comprehensive maps of Coyote Creek (from Calaveras Point east to the railroad bridge) and Alviso Slough (from the bay to
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Slough evolution and legacy mercury remobilization induced by wetland restoration in South San Francisco Bay

Coastal wetlands have a long history of degradation and destruction due to human development. Now recognized as one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, substantial efforts are being made to restore this critical habitat. While wetland restoration efforts are generally viewed as beneficial in terms of providing wildlife habitat and flood control, they are often accompanied by dramatic p
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

A revised continuous surface elevation model for modeling

A digital elevation model (DEM) is an essential component of any hydrodynamic model. The Delta Modeling Section (Section) has maintained a database of bathymetry soundings and levee surveys for decades and published a 10-meter (10m) DEM for the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) (California Department of Water Resources 2012). In collaboration with the U.S. Geological Surve
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Burial and exhumation of temperate bedrock reefs as elucidated by repetitive high-resolution sea floor sonar surveys: Spatial patterns and impacts to species' richness and diversity

To understand how chronic sediment burial and scour contribute to variation in the structure of algal and invertebrate communities on temperate bedrock reefs, the dynamics of the substrate and communities were monitored at locations that experience sand inundation and adjacent areas that do not. Co-located benthic scuba-transect surveys and high-resolution swath-sonar surveys were completed on bed
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Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Late Holocene sedimentary environments of south San Francisco Bay, California, illustrated in gravity cores

Data are reported here from 51 gravity cores collected from the southern part of San Francisco Bay by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1990. The sedimentary record in the cores demonstrates a stable geographic distribution of facies and spans a few thousand years. Carbon-14 dating of the sediments suggests that sedimentation rates average about 1 mm/yr. The geometry of the bay floor and the character
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Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sediment Deposition, Erosion, and Bathymetric Change in Central San Francisco Bay: 1855-1979

Central San Francisco Bay is the hub of a dynamic estuarine system connecting the San Joaquin and Sacramento River Deltas, Suisun Bay, and San Pablo Bay to the Pacific Ocean and South San Francisco Bay. To understand the role that Central San Francisco Bay plays in sediment transport throughout the system, it is necessary to first determine historical changes in patterns of sediment deposition and
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

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