• Rugged shoreline of Big Sur Coast, central California

    Oceanography

    Introduction

    I taught Oceanography at NAU for over 15 years and used many of the images below in my course. Field trips to either Rocky Point, Mexico or San Diego and Orange Counties, Ca were highlights of the course. A set of links to useful Ocean web sites is at the bottom of the page.

    Graphics

    Coasts and Coastal Erosion

  • Big Sur Coast, California
  • Steep, rocky coast, Amalfi Coast, Italy
  • Arch and stacks cut into Franciscan Fm, Big Sur, Ca
  • Sea stacks carved from Cretaceous limestone, Capri, Italy
  • Seacliffs and stacks at Capri, Italy
  • Town nestled in steep coastal cliffs, Camogli, Italy)
  • wave eroded headlands and rugged sea cliffs, Big Sur, Ca
  • Precarious houses not long for this World, San Clemente, Ca
  • Coastal steepening creates massive landslides, US 101 at LaConchita, Ca
  • Freshly activated (night before photo taken) slide at LaConchita, Ca
  • Complex coast and bay, note active sand dunes, Morro Rock, Ca
  • Quaint village of Positano built into rocky cliffs, Amalfi Coast, Italy
  • Glacial carved inlets of Puget Sound, Wa
  • San Diego Bay, one of the finest natural harbours, from air above Point Loma
  • San Francisco Bay from the air
  • San Francisco Bay from the air
  • Sea stacks along Big Sur, Ca
  • Marine terraces along Big Sur, Ca
  • Marine terrace and old wave-cut cliff, Pismo Beach, Ca
  • Marine terraces at Point Loma, San Diego
  • Marine terraces near San Simeon, Ca
  • Marine terraces from air at Tijuana, Mexico
  • Venice is built on islands formed from deposits of the Po River delta; tilted tower results from uneven subsidence
  • Historic buildings of Venice are threatened by gradual subsidence of Po delta
  • Marine terrace with thick Quaternary nearshore deposits, Pismo Beach, Ca
  • Wave cut platform will become marine terrace if region is uplifted or sea level drops; near Morro Bay, Ca
  • Trucated headlands mark uplifted coast at Point Reyes, Ca

    • Tides and Waves

  • Berm at Capistrano Beach, Ca
  • San Juan Creek cuts through berm exposing beach lamination, Capistrano Beach, Ca
  • Close up of Berm, Capistrano Beach, Ca
  • Solitary breaking wave, Pismo Beach, Ca
  • Breaking waves along Pacific coast
  • Dungeness Spit, Wa curls into Puget Sound for almost four miles
  • Strong cross winds create wave fountains, Oregon coast
  • Bars and bays, Long Island, NY
  • Inlet cut through barrier beach, Mission Bay, Ca
  • Beach and lagoon at Mission Bay, Ca
  • Crashing waves at Big Sur, Ca
  • Waves breaking along Southern Oregon coast
  • Building and breaking waves and surf zone, Oregon coast
  • Trains of waves approach New Jersey coast
  • Wave trains approach Point Reyes, Ca; white streaks into ocean probably rip tides
  • Waves and tidal currents build shoals at mouth of small river along Oregon coast
  • Estuary and lagoon at one of World's highest tidal ranges, Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco), Sonora, Mexico
  • Mouth of estuary, Rocky Point tidal flats; eolian dune in background
  • Mega ripples on sand flats at rocky Point
  • Ripples on sand flats at Rocky Point
  • Ebb oriented megaripples at Rocky Point
  • Ebb oriented crecentic megaripples at Rocky Point
  • Trench in sand flats at Rocky Point
  • Incoming tide (18 foot tidal range), Rocky Point
  • Mudflats (fairly sandy because of windblown sand), Rocky Point
  • Mudflats with Pleistocene tidal deposits in background, Rocky Point
  • Tidal pool in Mesozoic granite, Rocky Point
  • Suset across the tidal flats, Playa Bonita, Rocky Point
  • Algae on mudflats, Kala Point near Port Townsend, Wa
  • Air view of tidal flats, western France
  • Landsat view of tidal flats on North Sea, West Frisian Islands, Holland
  • Landsat of strongly tidal controlled Irrawaddy River delta, Burma

    Marine Sedimentation, Modern and Ancient

  • Beach swash lamination, Pismo Beach, Ca
  • Beach swash lamination, San Clemente, Ca
  • Coastal dunes, NW Denmark
  • Coastal dunes, Pismo Beach, Ca
  • Wet area between coastal dunes, Pismo Beach
  • Close up of wet interdune with dry sand blowing across damp sand, Pismo Beach
  • Dry sand sticks to damp sand and adhesion warts (ripples) form, Pismo Beach
  • Ladderback ripples form when water drains down troughs of ripples, Rocky Point, Mexico
  • Compound or interferrence ripples form from superimposed wave and tidal currents, Rocky Point, Mexico
  • Salt evaporation ponds, south San Francisco Bay
  • Small delta at rivermounth, Chesapeake Bay, Va; note complex sedimentation patterns
  • Landsat of Mississippi Delta in flood
  • Cretaceous turbidite deposits, San Diego
  • Cretaceous turbidite deposits, San Diego; note bioturbation, upper left center
  • Cretaceous turbidite deposits, San Diego
  • Bedding plane view of deepwater bioturbation patterns, Cretaceous turbidites, San Diego
  • Ancient turbidite deposits near Morro Bay, Ca
  • Ancient turbidite deposits, Oregon coast
  • Ancient turbidite deposits showing classic gradded bedding, Oregon coast
  • The Olympic Mountains in Washington are accreted deep water sea mounts and turbidite deposits
  • The Jurassic and Cretaceous Franciscan Formation is an accreted melange or accretionary prism that formed in a trench along a subduction zone
  • Precambrian shallow marine passive margin shelf deposits, Death Valley, Ca
  • Shallow water Triassic marine carbonates of Alps near Innsbruk, Austria
  • Shallow water Jurassic limestone and mudstone, Lyme Regis, England
  • Limestone snail and clam coquina, Pleistocene, Rocky Point, Mexico
  • Mississippian corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, and other fossils, Redwall Limestone, Marble Canyon, Az
  • Jurassic ammonites in museum at University of Tubingen, Germany
  • Triassic stromatolites (blue-green algae laminations) from shallow marine Moenkopi Formation, Moab, Utah

    Links to Oceanography Web Sites

  • NOAA World Data Center

  • Lamont-Doherty Earth Obsevatory

  • Marine Geology Servers on the Web

  • Search Engine for Oceanography

  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst

  • Scripps Inst

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