HR: 1330h
AN: OS52B-0910    [PDF]
TI: Characterizing Dynamic Bedforms Using Multibeam Bathymetry in the Haro Strait and San Juan Channel Areas of British Columbia, Canada, and the San Juan Islands, Washington, USA
AU: * Lopez, H L
EM: hlopez@mlml.calstate.edu
AF: Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039 United States
AU: Greene, H
EM: greene@mlml.calstate.edu
AF: Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039 United States
AB: The San Juan Islands in the U.S. and British Columbia, Canada, are an archipelago located in Northwestern Washington, between the Northern Cascades Mountain Range and the Olympic Peninsula and are the result of tectonic compressional processes. This region has experienced a complex tectonic history of convergence, thrust faulting, uplift, subsidence, glaciation, tidal scour and sediment transport (deposition and erosion) that in turn have produced diverse marine benthic habitats. There are a variety of habitats including dynamic bedforms, moraines, and glacially scoured fractured and faulted bedrock outcrops. Multibeam bathymetric and backscatter data image the bedforms in detail and show they are concentrated within the waterways of the San Juan Islands, including Haro Strait, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and San Juan Channel. These bedforms may provide habitat for marine species, including migrating salmon. An interpreted map will be presented that focuses on the characterization of marine benthic habitats based on high-resolution (Simrad EM 1002 95 kHz) multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data. This study will assist in a better understanding of the physical and biological characteristics of the San Juan Islands Archipelago, especially near established Marine Protected Areas and will benefit effective implementation of resource management objectives.
DE: 4219 Continental shelf processes
DE: 4259 Ocean acoustics
DE: 4275 Remote sensing and electromagnetic processes (0689)
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting