Landslides are catastrophic events, which can destroy lives and property. CMG research aims to better understand the origin of landslides in marine and coastal environments and the resulting impacts on people, property, and the environment. High priority is given to densely populated areas with high frequency or large-scale landslides.
Coastal Change Hazards: Hurricanes and Extreme Storms This project investigates the coastal impacts of hurricanes and extreme storms, such as Hurricanes Isabel (2003), Dennis (1999), Bonnie & Georges (1998), and winter storms, such as those associated with the 1997-98 El Niño. Posted: 2009-04-28
Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5101: The Coral Reef of South Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i—Portrait of a Sediment-Threatened Fringing Reef In this landmark volume, U.S. Geological Survey researchers and their colleagues have developed and applied a remarkably integrated approach to the reefs of Moloka‘i, combining geology, oceanography, and biology to provide an in-depth understanding of the processes that have made these reefs grow and that now limit them. They have joined old fashioned natural history of marine animals and plants with study of the geological evolution of the island, hydrology, meteorology, and land-use history, to an arsenal of new methods of remote sensing, including aerial photography, laser ranging, infrared thermal mapping, seismic reflection, in-situ instrumentation to measure chemical parameters of water quality, and direct measurements of the physical driving forces affecting them—such as wave energy, currents, sedimentation, and sediment transport. They provide a level of documentation and insight that has never been available for any reef before. Posted: 2008-11-19
USGS Monterey Bay Science USGS Monterey Bay Science - USGS research in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and coastal watersheds of central California Posted: 2008-01-01
USGS Coastal Change Hazards USGS Coastal Change Hazards - Focuses on hurricanes, tsunamis, sea-level rise, shoreline erosion, wetland destruction, and other issues relevant to coastal zone management and disaster preparedness. Posted: 2008-01-01
Coastal and Marine Knowledge Bank An initiative to develop and present a national-scale, interdisciplinary scientific framework for marine environments, the coastal zone, and coastal watersheds Posted: 2007-11-28
Professional Paper 1661-E: Seismic Stability of the Duwamish River Delta, Seattle, Washington The delta front of the Duwamish River valley near Elliott Bay and Harbor Island is founded on young Holocene deposits shaped by sea-level rise, episodic volcanism, and seismicity. These river-mouth deposits are highly susceptible to seismic soil liquefaction and are potentially prone to submarine landsliding and disintegrative flow failure. A highly developed commercial-industrial corridor, extending from the City of Kent to the Elliott Bay/Harbor Island marine terminal facilities, is founded on the young Holocene deposits of the Duwamish River valley. The deposits of this Holocene delta have been shaped not only by relative sea-level rise but also by episodic volcanism and seismicity. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), cores, in situ testing, and outcrops are being used to examine the delta stratigraphy and to infer how these deposits will respond to future volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in the region. A geotechnical investigation of these river-mouth deposits indicates high initial liquefaction susceptibility during earthquakes, and possibly the potential for unlimited-strain disintegrative flow failure of the delta front. Posted: 2007-11-02
El Niño Home Page El Niño information with links to a broad range of topics such as Floods, Landslides, Coastal Hazards, Climate, News Releases. Posted: 2007-09-30
National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards The National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards is a multi-year undertaking to identify and quantify the vulnerability of U.S. shorelines to coastal change hazards such as the effects of severe storms, sea-level rise, and shoreline erosion and retreat. It will continue to improve our understanding of processes that control these hazards, and will allow researchers to determine the probability of coastal change locally, regionally, and nationally. The Assessment will deliver these data and assessment findings about coastal vulnerability to coastal managers, other researchers, and the general public. Posted: 2007-09-28
Open-File Report 2007-1079: Terrestrial LIDAR Investigation of the December 2003 and January 2007 Activations of the Northridge Bluff Landslide, Daly City, California On December 20, 2003 and again on January 1, 2007, landslides occurred along the coastal bluff that forms the west boundary of Daly City, California sending debris as far as 290 meters downhill and 90 meters into the ocean. This area is known for large landslide events where 150-meter tall coastal bluffs extend southward along the west boundary of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties (Fig. 1). The 2003 and 2007 landslide events occurred west of Northridge Drive in Daly City and just south of Avalon Canyon, which bisects the bluffs in this area (Fig. 2). Residential development, utility lines and roads occupy the land immediately east of this location. As part of a comprehensive project to investigate the failure mechanisms of coastal bluff landslides in weakly lithified sediments along the west coast of the United States, members of the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology (CMG) Program performed reconnaissance mapping of these landslide events including collection of high-resolution topographic data using CMG's terrestrial LIDAR laser scanning system. This report provides a brief background on each landslide event and presents topographic datasets collected following each event. Downloadable contour data, images, and FGDC-compliant metadata of the surfaces generated from the LIDAR data are also provided. LIDAR data collection and processing techniques used to generate the datasets are outlined. Geometric and volumetric measurements are also presented along with high-resolution cross-sections through various areas of the slide masses and discussion concerning the slides present (2007) configuration is provided. Posted: 2007-04-16
Effects of Major Storms on Pacific Islands - USGS Fact Sheet Tropical storms of various kinds are as much a depositional event as an erosional event. Much attention is given to the destructive aspects of major storms because of the loss of life and property, but little is known about their beneficial effects to coastal accretion. While we can usually measure and map the instantaneous effects of a tropical storm, we can only speculate about the long-term effects. Geologic mapping by the U.S. Geological Survey in areas prone to storm effects can give us opportunities to minimize losses by identifying locations most likely to suffer. Posted: 2004-03-02
Gas (Methane) Hydrates -- A New Frontier - USGS Fact Sheet Methane trapped in marine sediments as a hydrate represents such an immense carbon reservoir that it must be considered a dominant factor in estimating unconventional energy resources; the role of methane as a 'greenhouse' gas also must be carefully assessed. Posted: 2004-03-02
Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Geological Processes and Framework - USGS Fact Sheet The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will move its Pacific Marine Geology program to a new location at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) and we are excited about our role in the marine sciences community around Monterey Bay. There is much to learn in the region, not only as a result of new opportunities in the Marine Sanctuary, but also that knowledge gained here may be transferred to our studies of similar environments in other parts of the world. Posted: 2004-03-02
USGS OFR 03-411 - Preliminary Hydrodynamic Analysis of Landslide-Generated Waves in Tidal Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska A landslide block perched on the northern wall of Tidal Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park (Figure 1), has the potential to generate large waves in Tidal Inlet and the western arm of Glacier Bay if it were to fail catastrophically. Landslide-generated waves are a particular concern for cruise ships transiting through Glacier Bay on a daily basis during the summer months. The objective of this study is to estimate the range of wave amplitudes and periods in the western arm of Glacier Bay from a catastrophic landslide in Tidal Inlet. This study draws upon preliminary findings of a field survey by Wieczorek et al. (2003), and evaluates the effects of variations in landslide source parameters on the wave characteristics. Posted: 2003-10-29
An Overview of Coastal Land Loss: With Emphasis on the Southeastern United States In states bordering the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, vast areas of coastal land have been destroyed since the mid 1800s as a result of natural processes and human activities. The physical factors that have the greatest influence on coastal land loss are reductions in sediment supply, relative sea level rise, and frequent storms, whereas the most important human activities are sediment excavation, river modification, and coastal construction. As a result of these agents and activities, coastal land loss is manifested most commonly as beach/bluff erosion and coastal submergence. Posted: 2003-08-20
Fact Sheet 020-98: Popular Beach Disappears Underwater in Huge Coastal Landslide--Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan In February 1995, a 1,600-foot stretch of popular beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore suddenly slid into the waters of northeastern Lake Michigan. The National Park Service (NPS) immediately requested the assistance of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in evaluating the hazard at the lakeshore. To protect the public, USGS and NPS scientists are conducting studies that will help predict when the landslide-prone area will move again Posted: 2003-03-18
Hawaiian Islands GLORIA Imagery GLORIA sidescan sonar imagery of the Hawaiian Islands, showing index map and downloadable quadrangles of sea-floor imagery. Posted: 2002-04-03
Remote Video Monitoring Remote Video Monitoring (RVM) systems provide a means of automatically acquiring video data from remote locations and returning them to a central laboratory computer for processing. This project makes use of RVM technology to monitor coastal change at locations in Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Washington. Posted: 2000-10-02
El Niño/La Niña Coastal Comparison Photography - Oregon La-Niña Mapping, May, 1999 - A Follow-on Experiment to the El-Niño Coastal Mapping, October 1997 / April 1998. These pages include pre/post-El-Niño rainfall data from the Laurel Mountain Monitoring Station, as well as a set of oblique aerial photography of portions of the Oregon coast. Posted: 1999-12-08
Gas Hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico Investigation of potential gas-hydrate deposits and possible links between hydrate occurrence and sea-floor failures using remote-sensing technology. Posted: 1999-09-22
About Gas Hydrates and a USGS gas hydrate project Questions and answers about submarine gas hydrates: an ice-like crystalline solid formed of water and gas that is found in places under the sea floor and has important implications to techniques of deep-sea drilling and future energy supplies. Posted: 1999-03-08
Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Studies The USGS Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Project gathers, interprets, and distributes geologic information - tools necessary for sound resource protection and preservation of the federally established Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This web site provides access to that information. Posted: 1999-02-22
Coastal Erosion from El-Nino Winter Storms - Oblique Aerial Photography USGS acquired baseline precision-located oblique still and video photography coverage of over 1000 km of coastline from the west coast of the U.S. in October, 1997, in anticipation of storms generated by the El-Niño warming of the Pacific Ocean. A follow-up mission was completed in April, 1998 after the storm season. Posted: 1998-12-16
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