Interpreted and Uninterpreted Seismic-Reflection Profiles from the inner continental shelf off the northern Oregon and southern Washington coast (HTML files)

Two 21-day field operations were conducted in 1997 and
1998 in the estuaries and on the inner continental shelf off
the northern Oregon and southern Washington coast.
These cruises aboard the R/V Corliss were run in order to
generate reconnaissance maps of the seafloor geology
and the shallow subsurface stratigraphy using sidescan
sonar and seismic-reflection mapping techniques. The
1998 cruise also collected sediment grab samples, bottom
photographs, and video images to verify the
sidescan-sonar imagery and to document the seafloor
geology. The combination of these data with previously
collected sediment sample data (Robert, 1974; Nittrouer,
1978; and Smith et. al., 1980) has been used to define the
extent and lithology of shelf sediments associated with the
Columbia River littoral cell. This work is one component of
a larger project studying the erosion of the Washington and
Oregon coast and is being coordinated by the U.S.
Geological Survey and the Washington State Department
of Ecology. The reason for collecting these data is to
provide a regional synthesis of the offshore geology to
support a wide variety of management decisions and to
provide a basis for further process-oriented investigations.