The Inmaculada Mine is located in the Miocene belt of epithermal deposits that extends from southern Peru to northern Chile and Bolivia. This belt is known for its silver-rich epithermal veins that have been worked since colonial times. The Inmaculada Mine belongs to a mining district that includes, from north...
Disentangling sediment source from sediment transport is a fundamental marine geologic challenge critical to the interpretation of any sedimentary record. The Eirik Ridge, a sediment drift south of Greenland, receives terrigenous sediment primarily from subglacial erosion of south Greenland’s Precambrian bedrock and Paleogene volcanics that outcrop in east Greenland and...
The Panamint Valley fault zone (PVFZ) is an active, dextral-oblique normal fault that partially accommodates dextral shear across the Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ). The fault system has a complex geometry, characterized by a relatively high-angle dextral oblique normal fault in the south and a low-angle detachment system that accommodates...
Oregon’s Coastal nearshore ecosystems are a nexus between living marine resources and coincident human recreational, industrial and socio-economic development. These nearshore regions also provide habitats vital to early life history stages of commercial non-whiting groundfish species, which supplied 21% of the Oregon fishing economy in 2018. The very shallow portions...
Globally, there are 40 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and 25.4 million refugees as of 2018. Of this global refugee population, 19.9 million are under mandate by UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, while 5.4 million Palestinian refugees are protected by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees...
Rotating disc electrodes (RDEs) exploit the induced flushing of a radially spun electrode to increase the overall rate of analyte flux to an electrode sensing surface and its resulting signal current (i). Here initial efforts to evaluate a rotating platinum (Pt) microelectrode for efficacy as a rapid in situ dissolved...
Ocean acidification (OA) is the result of increasing concentrations of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, leading to a suite of alterations to specific parameters of ocean chemistry, which can negatively impact many marine organisms and ecosystems. Understanding how to measure and monitor the chemistry of OA will require specialized education...
Informal higher education science learning programs are increasingly being used as a tool to build scientific research capacity. However, there is low understanding of the impact that these programs on their target audiences, which is important to future capacity building efforts and program design. The purpose of this research project...
The Walla Walla Subbasin (WWSB) in Oregon is underlain by formations of the extensive Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) which have been deformed by post-Miocene folding and faulting. Extensive irrigation with groundwater from these basalt groups, as well as sedimentary aquifers and surface water diversions from the Walla Walla River,...
Today’s technology-based society makes information more accessible than ever, in turn creating a growing demand for a workforce that has the skills necessary to utilize data. Contributing to this influx of data is Oregon State University (OSU), who was selected to guide the design and construction process of three Regional...
With growing populations and consumer demand, there has been a turn to the deep sea to meet our natural resource needs. The deep sea provides a range of benefits to humans—called ecosystem services—including carbon sequestration, fisheries, waste absorption and detoxification, and nutrient cycling, all of which are vital to life...
Western Saudi Arabia hosts a number of young volcanic fields, known as “Harrats”. Harrats cover a significant proportion of western Saudi Arabia and are associated with significant volcanic hazards. However, the ultimate cause of volcanic activity remains unclear. Younger volcanism (<12 Ma) is clearly represented by the north-south-trending region known...
The complex challenges that Oregon’s commercial fishing community faces are mainly driven by four sources of change: climate change, change in management regulations, societal shifts, and market trends. Challenges include increasing competition for ocean use, management decisions that prioritize economic efficiency over community values, and an increasingly uncertain environment. The...
Cinder cones are useful geomorphic features for geological analysis because they generally have known initial states and follow a similar pattern of degradation as they are exposed to erosive processes. This is largely because cinder cones are produced by monogenetic eruptions. Characterizing large cinder cone fields in terms of age...
The frontlines of climate change adaptation will occur in rural, impoverished regions of the world where households engage in climatically dependent livelihoods, such as peasant agriculture or pastoralism. As changing climate and changing markets affect the suite of household livelihood assets (environmental, social, and economic) which enable a household to...
Mount Sinabung, Sumatra, Indonesia initiated eruptive activity in 2010 with the addition of a magmatic component in 2013, after a 3 year period of quiescence. Observations of magmatic activity began with phreatomagmatic eruption starting July 2013 closely followed by extrusion of andesitic lava in December 2013. Lava effusion has persisted...
Research across natural resource management disciplines has identified an implementation gap between researchers and managers, where institutional norms and practices limit the application and synthesis of novel data and observations in decision-making. With their increasing social media and internet presence, federal agencies have grown their communication portfolios past traditional communication...
Because of their convenience and durability, single-use plastic items have become a ubiquitous part of society since the 1930s. The overuse of these convenient and durable plastic items has created a social and environmental problem that plagues our oceans and waterways. While the issue is overwhelming and daunting, it is...
Euphausiids are recognized as essential components of marine food webs throughout the world’s oceans due to their role as prey for many species including whales, seabirds, and commercial fishes. The Kitimat Fjord System is an important fisheries area and is the only fjord habitat on the British Columbia coast that...
The Pacific coast groundfish fishery is a diverse, important and lucrative commercial and recreational fishery. Part of this fishery’s monitoring process includes regular fishery-independent surveys for stock assessment. Although these fishery-independent surveys are cost-effective, they are susceptible to scientific uncertainty, and they do not currently sample in nearshore (water depth...
In 2013, a large upper-ocean thermal anomaly formed in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) warmer than 4 degrees Celsius above the climatological norm. This warm anomaly persisted for the next three years and has been linked to downstream effects on North American climate and negative...
Commercial fisheries are coupled human-natural systems that cross state borders and integrate private, public, academic sectors and interests. These systems integrate complicated relationships between coastal socioeconomics, resource management and environmental realms. Previous findings from West Coast-based studies have identified aging trends in commercial fisheries participation, commonly referred to as the...
Though numerous drought metrics have been developed by the research community, adoption of these metrics by water managers has been limited. The reasons for this vary, but some include mismatches in time scales and spatial scales between the metric supplied and the operational decisions (e.g. water managers often work within...
Modifications of an ocean model are described, as the objective for which the model was used changed to study the kinematics and dynamics of an eastern-boundary poleward undercurrent.
The south central Chilean margin is one of the most seismically active subduction zones on Earth, generating some of the largest earthquakes on the planet, including the largest ever recorded in 1960 near Valdivia, Chile (Mw 9.5). Using the 15 km streamer and 6600 in3 tuned seismic airgun array aboard...
Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) used to exist along coastlines throughout much of the North Pacific Ocean. During the Maritime Fur Trade, sea otters were extirpated from much of their historic range, including Oregon. There is renewed interest in reintroducing sea otters to Oregon. Managers seek improved understanding of the potential...
In Oregon, commercial fishing is estimated to contribute $544 million in income and 10,000 jobs per year to coastal communities. However not all fisheries are reaching their allocated quotas for catch. In 2017, 187.6 million pounds of non-whiting groundfish trawl quota worth $67 million was not attained, nearly three times...
Environmental crime around the world, such as trafficking in illegal timber, is directly related to political instability. Traffickers exploit weak, fragile, and chaotic political circumstances to illegally extract high-value commodities, challenging the extent to which conservation goals are achievable in resource rich developing countries. Rosewood is the largest traded endangered...
Oblique subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath the North American plate characterizes the tectonic setting of the Pacific Northwest. North American plate deformation at the latitude of central Oregon consists of the clockwise-rotation of the Siletzia block in the forearc and the extensional Basin and Range province in...
Involuntary movement, also known as forced displacement, has affected millions of people worldwide. At the end of 20th century, approximately 80 million people had been displaced due to hydropower projects, including approximately 22.5 million people in China. Dam-induced migration not only causes material loss, such as loss of homes and...
A synthesis of over 2000 paleoclimate proxy records is performed via a data assimilation framework that expands upon previous efforts by implementing a suite of physically-based proxy system models, and which provides the first example of an observationally independent, multi-seasonal (DJFM, JJAS) paleoclimate reanalysis. This methodology is contrasted against previous...
The severity of carbonate chemistry changes from ocean acidification is predicted to increase greatly in the coming decades, with serious consequences for marine species- especially those reliant on calcium carbonate for structure and function (Fabry et al. 2008). The Northern California Current Ecosystem off the coast of US West Coast...
The release of marine debris into the oceans and seas is a global issue of growing concern. These materials are harmful to marine environments and can also transport non-native species to novel habitats. Non-native species floating on marine litter is one of the lesser known impacts associated with marine debris....
The Olympia oyster is a foundation species that increases habitat structure for associate species in estuarine systems of the Pacific Coast of North America (Kimbro & Grosholz, 2006). This oyster provides ecosystem services in the form of water filtration (zu Ermgassen et al., 2013), habitat for commercially valuable species such...
Forested, mountain landscapes in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) are changing at an unprecedented rate, largely due to shifts in the regional climate regime. Documented climatic trends across the PNW include increasing wildfire frequency and intensity and an increasingly ephemeral snowpack, especially at moderate elevations. One relationship that has yet to...
As societies we face many environmental issues that need to be addressed through sound management. Whether in the terrestrial or marine environment, effective management techniques from natural resource management (NRM) agencies must be used continually to address these issues. Law enforcement has been used as one approach and an extension...
Municipal watersheds attempt to balance growing and conflicting demands for water for human use and for ecosystems. The Mill Creek basin, a 295 km2 basin in southeast Washington, exemplifies these conflicts. Since the late 1800s, the City of Walla Walla has withdrawn water from Mill Creek for municipal use. However,...
Despite the growth of the global refugee population, the proliferation of refugee camps, and the personal experiences of many refugees with violent conflict, there is little systematic understanding of the relationships between conflict events, conflict actors, and refugee communities. Indeed, conflict in and around refugee camps has thus far only...
A number of groups in the United States have expressed concern regarding the state of public ocean literacy and the capabilities of the future marine STEM workforce. This pilot study explores some of the requirements for workforce development and the expansion of ocean literacy by introduction of fundamental ocean properties...
Ocean acidification (OA), the change in ocean chemistry due to increasing concentrations of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is an environmental problem that is an active area of scientific research yet remains largely outside of the public’s awareness. It is often assumed that if we raise OA awareness, then...
Estuaries are an important ecological link between terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems, but are also subject to a variety of human pressures. Along the West Coast of the United States, shellfish aquaculture is one extensive use of estuarine tidelands. Specifically, Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) aquaculture has been practiced for almost...
Around 74 ka, a supervolcano, Toba Caldera in Sumatra, Indonesia erupted, producing the Youngest Toba Tuff and its associated caldera. After this catastrophic eruption, a lake filled the caldera, sedimentation within the lake occurred, and the process known as resurgence began. Today, the resurgent dome, Samosir Island, is uplifted 700...
The nature of upper plate deformation along the Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) is poorly understood. Systematic covariation among topographic relief, geodetically determined uplift rates, decadal to millennial erosion rates, and the frequency of episodic tremor and slip (ETS) along the Cascadia forearc suggest a genetic association between forearc topography and...
Effective forest governance is central to the efficient, sustainable, and equitable use of forest resources, yet challenges in assessing forest governance impede efforts to improve it. Contemporary forest governance involves decisions by multiple stakeholders across multiple sectors of economy and society, from local to global scales – making forest governance...
Ocean users and marine scientists both have connections to the sea. This research explores how the nature of their connection to the sea leads to different perceptions of risk and comfort with uncertainty, and how these differences might be important to consider when one group has information another group needs....
Despite its promise as a potentially beneficial new source of energy, the ocean-based renewable energy industry is still in its infancy, and like any new idea there are many unknowns with the potential to affect both people and our natural environments. A permit for marine renewable energy (MRE) must cut...
Coastal communities throughout the US West Coast and elsewhere are facing the daunting task of preparing for climate change impacts, particularly the hazards from increased flooding and erosion. With sea-level rise, changing storminess patterns, and possible changes to the frequency and severity of major El Niño events, communities are already...
Leads are long fractures wide enough for a ship to travel through the ice pack. Sea ice acts as a barrier between the ocean and the atmosphere, whereas leads allow the transfer of heat and moisture between the two. Leads play a role for marine mammals and are hunting grounds...
Seafood is one of the most diverse and highly traded natural resources worldwide. Widespread evidence of increased seafood fraud and IUU fishing has placed enormous pressure on industry and governments to determine the authenticity, safety, and sustainability of seafood. The recently established US National Ocean Council has addressed several gaps...
In this thesis, high resolution ocean models are used to evaluate and forecast coastal ocean variability in two different applications. In the first study, the 2-km resolution ocean circulation model for the Eastern Bering Sea is utilized to understand whether slope-interior exchange along the path of the Aleutian North Slope...