Minerals are a valuable natural resource. Those found in coastal environments include sand and gravel, while minerals such as phosphorites, iron-manganese crusts, and sulfides are found in deeper waters. CMG research aims to understand their distribution and the processes that control the composition, origin, and availability of such minerals.
Scientific Investigations Map 2907: Sidescan Sonar Imagery of the Escanaba Trough, Southern Gorda Ridge, Offshore Northern California This map features sidescan imagery of the northern Escanaba (NESCA) site at the Escanaba Trough, southern Gorda Ridge, offshore northern California. The Escanaba Trough, a largely sediment-covered seafloor spreading center, contains at least six large massive sulfide deposits. It is a slow spreading center (2.5 cm/yr) with axial depths locally exceeding 3,300 m. Discrete igneous centers occur at 5- to 10-km intervals along this slow-spreading ridge. Basaltic magma intrudes the sediment fill of the axial valley, creating uplifted sediment hills, and, in some areas, erupts onto the sea floor. Posted: 2009-09-30
USGS Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) The goal of the USGS Northern Gulf of Mexico project is to understand the evolution of coastal ecosystems on the Northern Gulf Coast, the impact of human activities on these ecosystems, and the vulnerability of ecosystems and human communities to more frequent and more intense hurricanes in the future. Posted: 2009-05-28
USGS Open-File Report 2004-1358 The northern Gulf of Mexico contains many documented gas hydrate deposits near the sea floor. Although gas hydrate often is present in shallow subbottom sediment, the extent of hydrate occurrence deeper than 10 meters below sea floor in basins away from vents and other surface expressions is unknown. We obtained giant piston cores, box cores, and gravity cores and performed heat-flow analyses to study these shallow gas hydrate deposits aboard the RV Marion Dufresne in July 2002. This report presents measurements and interpretations from that cruise. Our results confirm the presence of gas hydrate in vent-related sediments near the sea bed. The presence of gas hydrate near the vents is governed by the complex interaction of regional and local factors, including heat flow, fluid flow, faults, pore-water salinity, gas concentrations, and sediment properties. However, conditions appropriate for extensive gas hydrate formation were not found away from the vents. Posted: 2008-11-17
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
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
Coasts of Colombia Due to the complex geologic history of the northwestern part of South America, the Colombian coasts include a variety of coastline types, ranging from high-relief, steep-plunging cliffs typical of igneous and metamorphic massifs, to low, sandy barrier islands and extensive mangrove swamps characteristic of deltaic areas of both coasts. Posted: 2006-06-14
Microbial Ecology in Reef Sediments of Biscayne National Park 'Microbial Ecology in Reef Sediments of Biscayne National Park' is a 4-page discussion of bacterial communities as a critical component of the coral reef ecosystem. Posted: 2006-05-02
Open-File Report 2006-1036: Quantitative X-ray Diffraction Mineralogy of Los Angeles Basin Core Samples This report contains X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of mineralogy for 81 sediment samples from cores taken from three drill holes in the Los Angeles Basin in 2000-2001. We analyzed 26 samples from Pier F core, 29 from Pier C core, and 26 from the Webster core. These three sites provide an offshore-onshore record across the Southern California coastal zone. This report is designed to be a data repository; these data will be used in further studies, including geochemical modeling as part of the CABRILLO project. Summary tables quantify the major mineral groups, whereas detailed mineralogy is presented in three appendices. The rationale, methodology, and techniques are described in the following paper. Posted: 2006-02-23
Hydrates From Ice (HyFI) The HyFI facility is designed for making physical property measurements on a variety of hydrates. The term "Hydrates From Ice" refers to one formation technique in which hydrate is formed by slowly warming granular ice in a pressurized atmosphere of the hydrate former (methane, for instance). This methodology was developed at the USGS, in the Menlo Park laboratory lead by Dr. Stephen Kirby and Laura Stern. Posted: 2004-06-28
Marine Aggregate Resources and Processes The Marine Aggregates (Sand and Gravel Assessment) Project has developed and is implementing a scientifically rigorous series of regional studies mapping the seafloor sedimentary character and assessing marine sand and gravel resources around the United States. Results of the regional assessments will ultimately comprise a national assessment of marine sand and gravel. This study is responding to increasing demand for web-accessible GIS-type data and interpreted geologic map information on the sedimentary character of the seafloor and aggregate resources suitable for beach nourishment and coastal restoration, as well as seafloor sediment texture information for benthic habitat mapping and sediment transport studies. Posted: 2004-05-07
The Escanaba Trough of Gorda Ridge: A Laboratory for Mineral-forming Processes
- USGS Fact Sheet The Gorda Ridge is a unique geological system in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States. This tectonically and volcanically active plate boundary has an unusual morphology for spreading centers in the Pacific Ocean: a deep, wide axial valley flanked by high ridges. Because of its location near the continental margin, part of the axial valley known as the Escanaba Trough is covered by sediment. The Escanaba Trough provides opportunities for scientists to learn details about tectonics, volcanism, mineral formation, and biological activity that are not normally observed at mid-ocean ridges. It is a geological laboratory of grand proportions. Posted: 2004-03-02
Evolution and History of Incised Valleys: The Mobile Bay Model - USGS Fact Sheet Incised valleys along the Gulf coast commonly result from rivers eroding rapidly in response to a fall in sea level. As sea level rises, sediments fill incised valleys and form nearshore elongated sandbodies such as barrier islands. These sandbodies can be potential sites for hard-mineral accumulations and are modern analogues to buried sands in the ancient rock record with high potential of being oil and gas reservoirs. Processes that formed residual sediment accumulations may also help to predict the outcome of man's erosion mitigation and wetland nourishment efforts. Today, the geologic imprint of incised valleys across the continental shelf provides evidence of sea-level change over the past 18,000 years. Posted: 2004-03-02
Lake Baikal - A Touchstone for Global Change and Rift Studies - USGS Fact Sheet The Lake Baikal rift system is a modern analogue for formation of ancient Atlantic-type continental margins. It tells us the first chapter in the story of how continents separate and ultimately develop into ocean basins like the Atlantic Ocean. Posted: 2004-03-02
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
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03-001, Title Page This report contains surficial sediment data from previously unpublished data sources or from gray literature. These data have been compiled as part of the National Benthic Habitats and Marine Aggregate Resources and Processes Projects to update the existent maps on surficial sediment distribution available for the Gulf of Maine region. Sediment data in this report are GIS ready and are broken into data layers by their original source project. The data layers are provided as single-point vector datasets with sample identifiers, navigation, textural attribute information, and FGDC compliant metadata. Posted: 2003-08-14
Open-File Report 01-077: Clay Mineral Content of Continental Shelf and River Sediments, Southern California This report presents the clay mineral contents of the less than 2 micron size fraction of surface sediments from the continental shelf off Southern California, core samples from Santa Monica Bay, and bottom and suspended sediment samples from adjacent rivers draining Southern California. Clay minerals were determined using X-ray diffraction and the semiquantitative contents of smectite, illite, and chlorite plus kaolinite were calculated. Posted: 2003-03-18
West-Central Florida Coastal Transect #3: Sand Key - USGS Open File Report 99-507 This is the third of nine transect areas extending from the mainland of west-central Florida out to a depth of 26m. Data collected and presented includes sediment core data and side-scan sonar mapping of portions of the seafloor. Posted: 2002-12-17
West-Central Florida Coastal Transect #8: Siesta Key - USGS Open File Report 99-512 This is the eighth of nine transect areas extending from the mainland of west-central Florida out to a depth of 26m. Data collected and presented includes sediment core data and side-scan sonar mapping of portions of the seafloor. Posted: 2002-12-17
West-Central Florida Coastal Transect #9: Casey Key - USGS Open File Report 99-513 This is the ninth of nine transect areas extending from the mainland of west-central Florida out to a depth of 26m. Data collected and presented includes sediment core data and side-scan sonar mapping of portions of the seafloor. Posted: 2002-12-17
Chemical Pollutants and Toxic Effects on Benthic Organisms, Biscayne Bay, Florida Through the study of benthic foraminifera in Florida's Biscayne Bay, this project seeks to identify the distribution of pollutants and their effects in the bay. Findings will be used to assist in planning Everglades restoration and to aid in understanding recent change in local coral reef health. Posted: 2002-08-27
Environmental Atlas of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin - USGS Open File Report 02-206 The Environmental Atlas of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin provides citizens, planners, managers, educators, scientists and other professionals with a multidisciplinary and integrated source of information on Lake Pontchartrain and its surrounding Basin. Posted: 2002-05-14
U.S.G.S. Woods Hole Field Center, Analytical Labs This page documents the laboratories, methods, and equipment used to analyze marine sediments at the USGS's Woods Hole Field Center. Posted: 2002-04-25
USGS Marine Sediment analysis procedures, database of East Coast sediment analyses, and georeferenced displays of the sediment types This report (available as CDROM) contains full procedural instructions and methods for marine sediment analysis, including video tutorials and analytical software. It also contains the full database of sediment textural information of the USGS Woods Hole Field Center during about 38 years of operations, about 19,000 samples, beginning with the Continental Margin Program conducted with K.O. Emery and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1962-1970. It also provides background and tools for visualizing and displaying sediment textural information using GIS. Truly a significant compilation of data, information, and instructional materials for Marine sedimentological studies. Posted: 2002-04-24
Global Inventory of Natural Gas Hydrate Occurance This updated global inventory reports on natural gas hydrate recovered from 20 places worldwide and includes 79 places where the presence of gas hydrate has been inferred from geophysical, geochemical, or geological evidence. Posted: 2001-01-09
Education and Outreach Information Helpful information about Activities at the USGS Western Region Coastal and Marine Geology Team. Posted: 2000-11-20
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
Hydrocarbons in Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Description and interpretation of hydrocarbons associated with fluid venting processes in Monterey Bay, California. Posted: 1999-02-17
Gorda Ridge Hydrothermal System Investigation of distribution, quantity, and composition of hydrothermal deposits along the Gorda Ridge, off the coast of Oregon. Posted: 1998-06-10
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