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...
In winter and spring, ice-coast interactions driven by winds and ocean currents cause sea ice fractures (leads) to form repeatedly along Arctic coastlines. These events are often associated with rapid and expansive changes in sea ice drift and state that are challenging to predict and represent in models. We investigate...
Micro-plankton are a crucial component of pelagic food webs, responding rapidly to environmental changes, and providing a first step in the acquisition and transfer of nutrients to life in the ocean. In addition to the uptake of carbon, phytoplankton provide essential fatty acids (FAs) that can limit the growth of...
The imposing andesite stratovolcano is the characteristic expression of subduction zone magmatism, posing hazards to coastal populations and bearing insight into deep Earth processes. On a map of a typical volcanic arc, one can easily distinguish the approximately linear alignment and regular spacing of these major edifices that stand out...
Understanding and modeling microbial responses and feedbacks to climate change is hampered by a lack of a framework in the pelagic environment by which to link local mechanism to large scale patterns. Where terrestrial ecology draws from landscape theory and practice to address issues of scale, the pelagic seascape concept...
When adult spawning and juvenile settling locations of marine fishes are
geographically separated, their early life history stages must rely on transport and
their own behavior to move them toward suitable habitats for successful recruitment
to the juvenile phase. Variations in climate may reduce the availability of spawning
and juvenile...
The purpose of this thesis is to analyze an abrupt case of climate change in the past as a means to understand the mechanisms that force climate change. By looking to past analogs of climate change, we hopefully will gain an understanding of these events, which could be used to...
The rare earth elements (REEs) have been established as powerful tracers for a range of physiochemical processes occurring in the natural environment. They also hold significant economic importance as many technological advancements are reliant upon the REEs for their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical characteristics. In sedimentary settings, understanding the...
Passive hydrophone technologies and a variety of acoustic methods are applied in
the deep-ocean and shallow water coastal environments of the northeast Pacific. A
catalog derived from U.S. Navy regional hydrophone array recordings of acoustic T- phases from seafloor earthquakes is examined, describing space/time patterns through
empirical orthogonal function analysis...
Quantification of contemporary sediment and carbon accumulation within Oregon tidal saline wetlands will: (1) fill a critical knowledge gap, and (2) naturally test without complicating variables whether sea level rise or sediment supply primarily control wetland growth. Here we measure vertical accretion rates and carbon burial rates in three Oregon...