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David S. McCulloch

Publications and source records attributed to David S. McCulloch.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2011

GLORIA II sonograph mosaic of the western U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone

In 1983 the United States declared sovereign rights and jurisdiction over living and nonliving resources in an area extending 200 nautical miles (370 km) seaward from its shores. In response to the establishment of this Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has implemented a program, called EEZ‐Scan, to systematically map the EEZ, using the Geological Long‐ Range Inclined ASDIC (GLORIA) II longrange side scan sonar system developed by the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS) of Great Britain [Somers et al, 1978]. The first part of the EEZ‐Scan field program was completed in the summer of 1984, when USGS and IOS scientists surveyed the EEZ off the western conterminous United States aboard the British research vessel Farnella (Figure 1). The west coast survey, requiring 96 days of ship time and four separate legs, has resulted in virtually total sonograph coverage of the sea floor from the continental shelf break to the 200‐nautical mile limit between the Mexican and Canadian borders, an area of about 850,000 km 2 . Other data collected on the cruises included two‐channel digital seismic reflection and 3.5‐kHz highresolution and 10‐kHz bathymetric profiles, as well as towed magnetometer data along approximately 20,000 km of trackline spaced nominally at 30‐km intervals.

Western U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone↗
USGS2009

Basin development along the Late Mesozoic and Cainozoic California Margin: A plate tectonic margin of subduction, oblique subduction and transform tectonics

Along the Californian margin of the North American plate, the configuration and structural stability of late Mesozoic and Cainozoic basins are related to plate kinematics. Three tectonic regimes are recorded; orthogonal high-angle subduction, oblique low-angle subduction, and transform slip. During the first, regionally extensive forearc basins developed; during the second and third, borderland settings formed as a consequence of wrench faulting. In the forearc basins, sedimentological facies constitute regional belts that persist for hundreds of kilometres, with stratigraphic sequences that are 1–15 km thick. Shorelines are relatively straight, shelf facies are broad and well developed, and basin fill is composed of shallow marine, shelf and coalescing submarine-fan facies. Sediment transport in the deeper water facies commonly is parallel to the basin axis. Borderland basins reflect tectonic instability. A principal effect of wrench tectonics is the vertical reciprocation of crustal blocks. Shorelines are generally irregular, and narrow shelves pass abruptly into deep basins. Lithofacies change dramatically along strike, and stratigraphic thicknesses are variable from basin to basin, from tens of metres up to 6 km. Basin-margin facies are marked by unconformities, slump aprons, lithological pinch-outs and submarine canyon channels. Penecontemporaneous slip along the basin-margin faults complicates these lithofacies patterns. Borderland type palaeogeography is most extensively developed in the transform tectonic regime, and therefore the more seaward offshore basins are relatively depleted of terrigenous debris owing to transport barriers.

California↗
USGS1988

Physiography of the western United States Exclusive Economic Zone

GLORIA (Geologic Long-Range Inclined Asdic) sidescan sonar images were collected over the entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) west of the conterminous United States. The continuous, overlapping, swath-mapping technique provides, for the first time, a reconnaissance plan view off the entire sea floor from the edge of the continental shelf to 370 km from shore. The mid-ocean ridges, transform faults, seamount provinces, and sediment fans that dominate this region of the EEZ are seen in detail, and many features never before mapped in this region, such as canyons, seamounts, and meandering channels, have been located. Marked differences are apparent in the morphology of the continental slope and in sedimentary features both on the slope and in the deep ocean. Anticlinal ridges and diapirs crossed by large submarine canyon systems are clearly defined on the continental slope north of the Mendocino Fracture Zone. In contrast, the slope south of the fracture zone is incised by a dense network of smaller scale canyons and only a few large canyon systems. The first-order causes of these differences are related to differences in tectonic setting between the subduction-dominated margin north of Cape Mendocino and the strike-slip-dominated margin to the south.

Geology↗
USGS1983

Sea-floor-mounted rotating side-scan sonar for making time-lapse sonographs

A rotating side-scan sonar system was designed to make time-lapse sonographs of a circular area of the sea floor. To construct the system, the transducers of a commercial side-scan system (frequency 105 kHz; pulse length 0.1 ms; horizontal beam width 1&deg;; vertical beam width 20&deg;; beam depressed 10&deg; with respect to horizontal) were mounted 2 m above the sea floor on a vertical shaft that had a rotation speed of 0.5 rpm. The radially collected sonar images are recorded linearly on a standard side-scan recorder. To convert the linear record to a radial record, the original moving record is photographed through a slit by a rotating camera, exposing a circular image on film. Records that are collected with this system offer several advantages over records that are collected with towed systems. Bottom features are presented in nearly true plan geometry, and transducer yaw, pitch, and roll are eliminated. Most importantly, repeated observations can be made from a single point, and bedform movements of <50 cm can be measured. In quiet seas the maximum useful range of the system varies from 30 m (for mapping ripples) to 200 m (for mapping 10-m wavelength sand waves) to 450 m or more (for mapping gravel patches).

Continental Shelf Research↗
USGS1980

A summary report of the regional geology, environmental geology, OCS resource appraisal, petroleum potential, and operational considerations in the area of proposed lease sale 73, offshore California

This report reviews geological, geophysical and technological data pertinent to proposed Lease Sale 73. Under consideration is the entire continental margin of California that is bounded on the west by the 2500 meter isobath. This area encompasses the whole of the southern California Borderland, the continental shelves of central and northern California, and the upper part of the continental slope from Mexico on the south to Oregon on the north. The area includes both leased and unleased tracts and lies adjacent to highly productive coastal basins of central and northern California . Because the geology of the south and north parts of this large area differ, they are considered separately in this report.

California↗
USGS1978

Preliminary map showing recency of faulting in coastal south-central California

This map depicts 1) the locations of presently known or inferred faults and 2) what is currently known about the latest movement along each fault. Symbols superposed on the fault traces indicate the location of known late Cenozoic stratigraphic or geomorphic evidence of faulting. A fault is assigned to one of eight geologic ages (shown by letter symbol or date) based on the time of its latest movement inferred from the age of the youngest formation it displaces or from geomorphic features it formed.

California↗
USGS1967

The Alaska earthquake, March 27, 1964: effects on transportation, communications, and utilities

This is the forth in a series of six reports that the U.S. Geological Survey published on the results of a comprehensive geologic study that began, as a reconnaissance survey, within 24 hours after the March 27, 1964, Magnitude 9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake and extended, as detailed investigations, through several field seasons. The 1964 Great Alaska earthquake was the largest earthquake in the U.S. since 1700. Professional Paper 545, in 4 parts, describes the effects on transportation, communications, and utilities.

Alaska↗
USGS1966

Evidence for an early recent warm interval in northwestern Alaska

A warm interval that began at least 10,000 years ago and lasted until at least 8300 years ago is recorded in the coastal tundra covered area of northwestern Alaska by the presence of fossil wood of tree size or tree species, fossil beaver-gnawed wood found beyond the modern range of beaver, evidence of ice-wedge melting, buried soils, and soils that extend below the top of modern permafrost. Dating of the warm interval is based on eight radiocarbon dates. Although these do not provide tight control for either the beginning or the end, they permit the interpretation that the warm event began at the start of the worldwide, postglacial warming and that it ended at the time of the Anivik Lake glacial readvance in the Brooks Range. If this is correct, the early Recent warm interval and the "postglacial thermal maximum" recognized by Livingstone in the Brooks Range were separated by a period of cooler climate. Deposits 7200 and 3600 years old also record moments when the climate was warmer than at present in coastal northwestern Alaska . Although these may record a continuation of the early Recent warm period, it seems more likely that they represent later and separate brief intervals of warmer climate. A postglacial thermal maximum between 6000 and 3000 years ago is recorded by pollen profiles in the Brooks Range, but is not clearly recorded in the coastal areas of northwestern Alaska . We suggest that as sea level rose to near its present position, the accompanying maritime climate lowered summer temperatures in this coastal area during the time at which areas farther inland were experiencing the high temperatures of the postglacial thermal maximum.

Alaska↗