Interior Highlights Critical Mineral Prospectivity on the Seafloor
USGS factsheet shows potential in the nation’s seabed, an area larger than U.S. lands
USGS factsheet shows potential in the nation’s seabed, an area larger than U.S. lands
Multibeam bathymetric data offer high-resolution imagery of the entire Cascadia Subduction Zone
Linking tidal-creek sediment fluxes to vertical sediment accretion in a restored salty marsh
USGS Coastal and Marine Field Operations
USGS Research Links Weather Extremes to Coastal Sediment Supply in California
Study focuses on San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz
Study focuses on San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz
Study: How Coral Reefs Shielded Hawaiian Coastlines Against 2018 Hurricanes
Forecasting Coastal Retreat Along U.S. South Atlantic Coast by Year 2100
Faults Beneath the Salton Sea: Assessing Past and Future Earthquake Behavior along Southern San Andreas Fault
What are Key Conditions for Marsh Survival Amid Rising Seas?
USGS Scientists Use 3D Modeling to Understand Sediment Dynamics in Coastal Marshes
USGS Scientists Use 3D Modeling to Understand Sediment Dynamics in Coastal Marshes
USGS assists in post-storm seafloor survey following partial collapse of Santa Cruz wharf
USGS CoSMoS web tool preferred by coastal practitioners in California Coastal Adaptation Needs Assessment
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
PCMSC is one of three centers serving the mission of the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program—the primary Federal marine geology and physical science research program responsible for the Nation’s entire coastal and marine landscape.
What We Do: Coastal and Marine Science at USGS Santa Cruz
What We Do: Coastal and Marine Science at USGS Santa Cruz
Get an overview of the coastal and marine research conducted by the USGS in Santa Cruz, California in our downloadable booklet.
Research Projects
Research Projects
Read about our science projects, find out where we are working, and discover the reasons why our research matters.
News
Old Postcards, New Science: Historical Photos Document 92 Years of Coastal Change
Old Postcards, New Science: Historical Photos Document 92 Years of Coastal Change
A 700-year rupture sequence of great eastern Aleutian earthquakes from tsunami evidence and modeling
A 700-year rupture sequence of great eastern Aleutian earthquakes from tsunami evidence and modeling
The Threat of Coastal Flooding from Cascadia Earthquake-Driven Land Subsidence
The Threat of Coastal Flooding from Cascadia Earthquake-Driven Land Subsidence
Publications
Nature-based solutions extend the lifespan of a regional levee system under climate change
Nature-based solutions are receiving increasing attention as a cost-effective climate adaptation strategy. Horizontal levees are nature-based adaptation solutions that include a sloping wetland habitat buffer fronting a levee. They can offer a hybrid solution to reinforce traditional levees in estuarine areas—plants on the horizontal levee can provide wave attenuation benefits as well as...
No evidence for an active margin-spanning megasplay fault at the Cascadia Subduction Zone
It has been previously proposed that a megasplay fault within the Cascadia accretionary wedge, spanning from offshore Vancouver Island to Oregon, has the potential to slip during a future Cascadia subduction zone earthquake. This hypothetical fault has major implications for tsunami size and arrival times and is included in disaster-planning scenarios currently in use in the region. This...
Increased flood exposure in the Pacific Northwest following earthquake-driven subsidence and sea-level rise
Climate-driven sea-level rise is increasing the frequency of coastal flooding worldwide, exacerbated locally by factors like land subsidence from groundwater and resource extraction. However, a process rarely considered in future sea-level rise scenarios is sudden (over minutes) land subsidence associated with great (>M8) earthquakes, which can exceed 1 m. Along the Washington, Oregon...
Science
Coastal Wetland Vulnerability to Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise: Understanding Ecological Thresholds and Ecosystem Transformations
Eighteen USGS coastal scientists from all four coasts of the conterminous United States are working together to advance the understanding of climate change and sea-level rise impacts to coastal wetlands.
By
California Water Science Center, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Great Lakes Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC), Western Geographic Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Habitat Vulnerability to Climate Change: Identifying Climate Change Induced Mass Mortality Events Across Large Landscapes of the United States
USGS researchers will characterize extreme climatic events across U.S. following a review of case studies of mass mortality events associated with climate extremes including drought, precipitation, freeze, heat waves, and storm events.
Eyes on Earth Episode 120 – Mapping the California Coastline
Coastline erosion can change your favorite beach. But it can also affect highways and buildings. Landsat, along with high-resolution data, can be used to model the past and predict the future of changes caused by sea level rise and coastal erosion.