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Results for “The Holocene”

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At least 523 records · Page 29Linked to original sources
USGS1998

Carbon storage and late Holocene chronostratigraphy of a Mississippi River deltaic marsh, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

Today, the causes, results, and time scale(s) of climate change, past and potential, are the focus of much research, news coverage, and pundit speculation. Many of the US government scientific agencies have some funds earmarked for research into past and (or) future climate change (National Science and Technology Council, 1997). The Mississippi Basin Carbon Project (MBCP) is part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) effort in global change research . The project is motivated by the need to increase our understanding of the role of terrestrial carbon in the global carbon cycle, particularly in the temperate latitudes of North America. The global land area between 30 O and 60 O N is thought to be a large sink for atmospheric CO2 (IPCC, 1996). The identity of this sink is unknown, but is in part the soil and sediment that makes up the upper several meters of the Earth's surface. The MBCP focuses on the Mississippi River basin, the third largest river system in the world (fig. 1), that drains an area of 3.3 x 10 6 km 2 (1.27 x 10 6 mi 2 ). The Mississippi River basin includes more than 40 percent of the land surface, and is the home of more than one-third of the population, of the conterminous United States. Because climate, vegetation, and land use vary greatly within the Mississippi River basin, the primary terrestrial sinks for carbon need to be identified and quantified for representative parts of the basin. The primary goal of the MBCP is to quantify the interactive effects of land-use, erosion, sedimentation, and soil development on carbon storage and nutrient cycles within the Mississippi River basin. The project includes spatial analysis of a wide variety of geographic data, estimation of whole-basin and sub-basin carbon and sediment budgets, development and implementation of terrestrial carbon-cycle models, and site-specific field studies of relevant processes. Areas can be studied and compared, and estimates can be made for whole-basin carbon storage and flux.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1999

The Washington and Oregon mid-shelf silt deposit and its relation to the late Holocene Columbia River sediment budget

The purpose of this report is to compile and analyze existing data which lend support to the development of a sediment budget for the Columbia River, coastal, and offshore regions of southwest Washington. This will contribute to the construction of a sediment budget model which will reflect sediment sources, depocenters, and the sediment contribution to each region. The Columbia River is the source of modern sediment for the beaches of southwest Washington. Development of the sediment budget is necessary to understand the long term effects that reduction in sediment supply has on present day areas of sediment erosion and accumulation in the region. Figure 1 describes the origin, distribution, and thickness of the Mid-Shelf Silt Deposit (MSSD) based on analysis of seismic data acquired between 1976-1980 (Wolf et al., 1997). Sediment volumes deposited during the past 5000 years were calculated for each of the physiographic areal compartments shown in Figure 2. Table 1 organizes the data from Figures 1 and 2 into tabular form. This table provides a representation of the percent volume and weight of sediment types which contribute to the estimated Columbia River sediment budget. The compartments shown in Figure 2 are color coordinated with Table 1.

California;Oregon;Washington↗
USGS1999

Lava Falls Rapid in Grand Canyon: Effects of Late Holocene debris flows on the Colorado River

Lava Falls Rapid is the most formidable reach of whitewater on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon and is one of the most famous rapids in the world. Debris flows in 1939, 1954, 1955, 1966, and 1995, as well as prehistoric events, completely changed flow through the rapid. Floods cleared out much of the increased constrictions, but releases from Glen Canyon Dam, including the 1996 controlled flood, are now required to remove the boulders deposited by the debris flows.

Arizona↗
USGS2007

Mid-holocene sector collapse at Mount Spurr Volcano, South-Central Alaska

Radiocarbon-dated volcanic mass-flow deposits on the southeast flank of Mount Spurr in south-central Alaska provide strong evidence for the timing of large-scale destruction of the south flank of the volcano by sector collapse at 4,769^ndash;4,610 yr B.P. The sector collapse created an avalanche caldera and produced an ~1-km3-volume clay-rich debris avalanche that flowed into the glacially scoured Chakachatna River valley, where it transformed into a lahar that extended an unknown distance beyond the debris avalanche. Hydrothermal alteration, an unbuttressed south flank of the volcano, and local structure have been identified as plausible factors contributing to the instability of the edifice. The sector collapse at Mount Spurr is one of the later known large-volume (>1 km,sup>3) flank failures recognized in the Aleutian Arc and one of the few known Alaskan examples of transformation of a debris avalanche into a lahar.

Alaska↗