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Earthquake recurrence estimates for northern Caribbean faults from combinatorial optimization

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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

2023 Annual Report

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Pragmatically mapping Phragmites with unoccupied aerial systems: A comparison of invasive species land cover classification using RGB and multispectral imagery

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Hydroacoustic observations reveal drivers of mixing and salinization of a karst subterranean estuary during intense precipitation

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Scientific literature and information products produced by Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center staff

Featured Journal Article

Invasive Phragmites plants on the shore of a lake

Pragmatically mapping Phragmites with unoccupied aerial systems: A comparison of invasive species land cover classification using RGB and multispectral imagery

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Featured USGS Series

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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center—2023 Annual Report.  The 2023 annual report highlights accomplishments, includes a list of publications, and summarizes the work of the center and each of the science groups.

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Sound Waves

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Coastal and Marine Research News from Across the USGS

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Filter Total Items: 1737

Coring the Chesapeake Bay impact crater Coring the Chesapeake Bay impact crater

In July 1983, the shipboard scientists of Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 95 found an unexpected bonus in a core taken 150 kilometers east of Atlantic City, N.J. At Site 612, the scientists recovered a 10-centimeter-thick layer of late Eocene debris ejected from an impact about 36 million years ago. Microfossils and argon isotope ratios from the same layer reveal that the ejecta were part...
Authors
C. Wylie Poag
By
Chesapeake Bay Activities, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

A visual basic program to generate sediment grain-size statistics and to extrapolate particle distributions A visual basic program to generate sediment grain-size statistics and to extrapolate particle distributions

Measures that describe and summarize sediment grain-size distributions are important to geologists because of the large amount of information contained in textural data sets. Statistical methods are usually employed to simplify the necessary comparisons among samples and quantify the observed differences. The two statistical methods most commonly used by sedimentologists to describe...
Authors
L.J. Poppe, A.H. Eliason, M. E. Hastings
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Wave- and tidally-driven flow and sediment flux across a fringing coral reef: Southern Molokai, Hawaii Wave- and tidally-driven flow and sediment flux across a fringing coral reef: Southern Molokai, Hawaii

The fringing coral reef off the south coast of Molokai, Hawaii is currently being studied as part of a US Geological Survey (USGS) multi-disciplinary project that focuses on geologic and oceanographic processes that affect coral reef systems. For this investigation, four instrument packages were deployed across the fringing coral reef during the summer of 2001 to understand the processes...
Authors
C. D. Storlazzi, A.S. Ogston, Michael H. Bothner, M.E. Field, M.K. Presto
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Physical properties and rock physics models of sediment containing natural and laboratory-formed methane gas hydrate Physical properties and rock physics models of sediment containing natural and laboratory-formed methane gas hydrate

This paper presents results of shear strength and acoustic velocity (p-wave) measurements performed on: (1) samples containing natural gas hydrate from the Mallik 2L-38 well, Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories; (2) reconstituted Ottawa sand samples containing methane gas hydrate formed in the laboratory; and (3) ice-bearing sands. These measurements show that hydrate increases shear...
Authors
W.J. Winters, I.A. Pecher, W.F. Waite, D.H. Mason
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Coastal vulnerability assessment of Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) to sea-level rise Coastal vulnerability assessment of Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) to sea-level rise

A coastal vulnerability index (CVI, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1020/html/cvi.htm) was used to map relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise within Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) in Maryland and Virginia. The CVI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate...
Authors
Elizabeth A. Pendleton, S. Jeffress Williams, E. Robert Thieler
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Export production in the subarctic North Pacific over the last 800 kyrs: No evidence for iron fertilization? Export production in the subarctic North Pacific over the last 800 kyrs: No evidence for iron fertilization?

The subarctic North Pacific is a high nitrate-low chlorophyll (HNLC) region, where phytoplankton growth rates, especially those of diatoms, are enhanced when micronutrient Fe is added. Accordingly, it has been suggested that glacial Fe-laden dust might have increased primary production in this region. This paper reviews published palaeoceanographic records of export production over the...
Authors
S.S. Kienast, I.L. Hendy, John Crusius, Thomas F. Pedersen, S.E. Calvert
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Spatially quantitative seafloor habitat mapping: Example from the northern South Carolina inner continental shelf Spatially quantitative seafloor habitat mapping: Example from the northern South Carolina inner continental shelf

Naturally occurring hard bottom areas provide the geological substrate that can support diverse assemblages of sessile benthic organisms, which in turn, attract many reef-dwelling fish species. Alternatively, defining the location and extent of bottom sand bodies is relevant for potential nourishment projects as well as to ensure that transient sediment does not affect reef habitats...
Authors
G.Y. Ojeda, P. T. Gayes, R. F. Van Dolah, W. C. Schwab
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Role of a large marine protected area for conserving landscape attributes of sand habitats on Georges Bank (NW Atlantic) Role of a large marine protected area for conserving landscape attributes of sand habitats on Georges Bank (NW Atlantic)

Mobile fishing gear reduces seafloor habitat complexity through the removal of structure-building fauna, e.g. emergent organisms that create pits and burrows, as well as by smoothing of sedimentary bedforms (e.g. sand ripples). In this study, we compared the relative abundance of microhabitat features (the scale at which individual fish associate with seafloor habitat) inside and outside...
Authors
J. Lindholm, P. Auster, P. Valentine
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Floodtide pulses after low tides in shallow subembayments adjacent to deep channels Floodtide pulses after low tides in shallow subembayments adjacent to deep channels

In shallow waters surface gravity waves (tides) propagate with a speed proportional to the square root of water depth (c=g(h+η)). As the ratio of free surface displacement to mean depth (η/h) approaches unity the wave will travel noticeably faster at high tide than at low tide, creating asymmetries in the tidal form. This physical process is explained analytically by the increased...
Authors
J.C. Warner, D. H. Schoellhamer, C.A. Ruhl, J.R. Burau
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, California Water Science Center

Influence of northwest Pacific productivity on North Pacific Intermediate Water oxygen concentrations during the Bølling-Ållerød interval (14.7-12.9 ka) Influence of northwest Pacific productivity on North Pacific Intermediate Water oxygen concentrations during the Bølling-Ållerød interval (14.7-12.9 ka)

Elevated productivity in the northwest Pacific is suggested as a new possible control driving past intervals of low-O2 intermediate water along the western continental margin of North America. According to this mechanism, O2 consumption would occur near the site of formation of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW), due to increased respiration of organic carbon in response to a high
Authors
John Crusius, Thomas F. Pedersen, Stephanie Kienast, Lloyd D. Keigwin, Laurent Labeyrie
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Accuracy of a pulse-coherent acoustic Doppler profiler in a wave-dominated flow Accuracy of a pulse-coherent acoustic Doppler profiler in a wave-dominated flow

The accuracy of velocities measured by a pulse-coherent acoustic Doppler profiler (PCADP) in the bottom boundary layer of a wave-dominated inner-shelf environment is evaluated. The downward-looking PCADP measured velocities in eight 10-cm cells at 1 Hz. Velocities measured by the PCADP are compared to those measured by an acoustic Doppler velocimeter for wave orbital velocities up to 95...
Authors
J.R. Lacy, C. R. Sherwood
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Stress interaction between subduction earthquakes and forearc strike-slip faults: Modeling and application to the northern Caribbean plate boundary Stress interaction between subduction earthquakes and forearc strike-slip faults: Modeling and application to the northern Caribbean plate boundary

Strike-slip faults in the forearc region of a subduction zone often present significant seismic hazard because of their proximity to population centers. We explore the interaction between thrust events on the subduction interface and strike-slip faults within the forearc region using three-dimensional models of static Coulomb stress change. Model results reveal that subduction...
Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, J. Lin
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, 2020 Puerto Rico Earthquakes
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