ArcGIS REST Services Directory Login | Get Token
Home > services > Catalog > 5553dbbde4b0a92fa7e94e7c (MapServer) > Geology_OffshoreSanFrancisco Help | API Reference
JSON

Layer: Geology_OffshoreSanFrancisco (ID: 3)

Name: Geology_OffshoreSanFrancisco

Display Field: MapUnitAbb

Type: Feature Layer

Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon

Description: This part of DS 781 presents data for the geologic and geomorphic map of the Offshore of San Francisco map area, California. The polygon shapefile is included in "Geology_OffshoreSanFrancisco.zip," which is accessible from http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/781/OffshoreSanFrancisco/data_catalog_OffshoreSanFrancisco.html. The Offshore of San Francisco map area includes the Golden Gate inlet which connects the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Bay, the largest estuary on the U.S. west coast, is located at the mouth of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and drains over 40 percent of the state of California. The large surface area of the bay and diurnal tidal range of 1.78 m creates an enormous tidal prism (about 2 billion cu m) and strong tidal currents, commonly exceeding 2.5 m/s. Acceleration of these currents through the constricted inlet has led to scouring of a bedrock channel that has a maximum depth of 113 m. Large fields of sand waves (Barnard and others, 2007) (unit Qmsw) have formed both west and east of this channel as flow expands and tidal currents decelerate. Active tidally influenced map units inside San Francisco Bay also include sand-dominated deposits (unit Qbs) and more coarse-grained sand, gravel, and pebble deposits (unit Qbsc). Sand wave fields resulting from tidal flow are also present in the nearshore along the Pacific Coast, both north and south of the Golden Gate inlet. The sand wave fields appear to be variably mobilized by both ebb and flood tides, but the presence of a large (~150 sq km) ebb-tidal delta at the mouth of the bay west of the inlet indicates net sediment transport has been to the west. The ebb-tidal delta west of the Golden Gate inlet is mapped as two units. The inner part of the delta (unit Qmst) comprises a semi-circular, inward-sloping (i.e., toward the Golden Gate inlet), sandy seafloor at water depths of about 12 to 24 m. This inner delta has a notably smooth surface, indicating sediment transport and deposition under different flow regimes (defined by tidal current strength and depth) than those in which the sand waves formed and are maintained. Further deceleration of tidal currents beyond the inner delta has led to development of a large, shoaling (about 8 to 12 m water depth), horse-shoe shaped, delta-mouth bar (unit Qmsb). This feature (the "San Francisco Bar") surrounds the inner delta, and its central crest is cut by a dredged shipping channel that separates the nothern and southern parts of the bar, the "North Bar" and "South Bar," respectively. The San Francisco Bar is shaped by both tidal currents and waves, which regularly exceed 6 m in height on the continental shelf during major winter storms. This mix of tidal and wave influence results in a variably hummocky, mottled, and rilled seafloor, and this surface texture is used as a primary criteria for mapping the unit and defining its boundaries. Outside the San Francisco Bar to the limits of the map area, the notably flat shelf (less than 0.2 degrees) and the nearshore are wave-dominated and characterized by sandy marine sediment (unit Qms). Local zones of wave-winnowed (?) coarser sediment (unit Qmsc) indicated by high backscatter occur along the coast offshore Ocean Beach. Unit Qmsc is also mapped inside and at the mouth of the Golden Gate inlet where it presumably results from winnowing by strong tidal currents. Coarser sediment also occurs as winnowed lags in rippled scour depressions (unit Qmss), recognized on the basis of high-resolution bathymetry and backscatter. These depressions are typically a few tens of centimeters deep and are bounded by mobile sand sheets. This unit occurs primarily in the nearshore south of the Golden Gate inlet offshore of Ocean Beach (water depth less than 13 m) and north of the inlet offshore Muir Beach (water depth less than 17 m). Artificial seafloor (unit af) has several distinct map occurrences: (1) sites of active sand mining inside San Francisco Bay; (2) the dredged shipping channel at the central crest of the San Francisco Bar; (3) the sewage outfall pipe, associated rip rap, and surrounding scour channel offshore Ocean Beach; and (4) the location of a former waste disposal site about 2.5 km offshore Point Lobos. Although the map shows the areas in which several active sedimentary units (Qmsw, Qmst, Qmsb, Qms, Qmsc, Qmss, Qbsm, Qbsc) presently occur, it is important to note that map units and contacts are dynamic and ephemeral, likely to change during large storms, and on seasonal to decadal scales based on changing external forces such as weather, climate, sea level, and sediment supply. Dallas and Barnard (2011) have noted, for example, that the ebb-tidal delta has dramatically shrunk since 1873 when the first bathymetric survey of the area was undertaken. They document an approximate 1 km landward migration of the crest of the San Francisco Bar, which they attribute to a reduction in the tidal prism of San Francisco Bay and a decrease in coastal sediment. Map unit polygons were digitized over underlying 2-meter base layers developed from multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data. The bathymetry and backscatter data were collected between 2006 and 2010.

Definition Expression: N/A

Copyright Text:

Default Visibility: true

MaxRecordCount: 1000

Supported Query Formats: JSON, AMF, geoJSON

Min Scale: 0

Max Scale: 0

Supports Advanced Queries: false

Supports Statistics: false

Has Labels: false

Can Modify Layer: true

Can Scale Symbols: false

Use Standardized Queries: true

Supports Datum Transformation: true

Extent:
Drawing Info: Advanced Query Capabilities:
HasZ: false

HasM: false

Has Attachments: false

HTML Popup Type: esriServerHTMLPopupTypeAsHTMLText

Type ID Field: null

Fields:
Supported Operations:   Query   Generate Renderer   Return Updates

  Iteminfo   Thumbnail   Metadata