1995 West Coast Flood Deposits
Heavy January rains on the west coast in 1995 led to record river and sediment discharges along the northern California coast. From February 8 to February 18, 1995, USGS scientists joined the STRATAFORM project's "Rapid Response Sampling Team" aboard the R/V WECOMA of Oregon State University for sediment sampling of the new flood layer on the continental shelf off the Russian and Eel Rivers. This field effort was the first step in a multi-year study funded by the Office of Naval Research and coordinated by the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Other participants in the study included Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, University of Washington, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Humboldt State University, Woodward & Clyde Inc., Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Instititution.
A dozen scientists, students and technicians worked furiously on board the WECOMA during the 10-days, taking a total of 90 box cores of the 1995 flood sediment in the two areas. The flood layer on shelf near the Eel River proved to be easily recognizable, with reddish-tan flood sediment forming a layer up to 10 centimeters thick. Many of the benthic organisms had been covered so rapidly that they had apparently suffocated. The shelf area off the Russian River yielded only a thin flood layer, too small of a deposit to be of use to this study.
The goal of the STRATAFORM project was to understand the coastal margin stratigraphy on time scales that vary from recognizing individual storm events to identifying geologic units representing particular environmental conditions over tens of thousands of years. Scientists collected information on past climate change and sea level fluctuation along the California coast, as well as information relating to pollutant transport. The program lasted about 3 years and involved quarterly sampling of the sediment and the benthic organisms on the Eel River shelf, as well as intensive observations of physical processes such as waves and currents.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |