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At Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) graduate students have unique opportunities to study marine geology and applied marine geophysics. Our students, faculty, and researchers participate in scientific research projects that range from the study of submarine canyons to mapping and characterizing fish habitats. Two laboratories, Geological Oceanography and the Center for Habitat Studies, are established here to facilitate the educational needs and research desires of MLML graduate students and affiliated researchers.
The
labs are situated adjacent to the Monterey submarine canyon and, not
coincidentally, within the very active San Andreas Fault zone on the
central California coast. Monterey Canyon offers extraordinary opportunities
to study submarine canyons and deep-water processes. It is one of the
largest submarine canyons along the west coast of the United States
and is almost as large as the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. Monterey
Canyon was initially formed over 10 million years ago in the vicinity
of Santa Barbara, about 144 kilometers south of its present location.
The canyon, along with the entire Monterey Bay region, has been transported
northward along the San Andreas fault zone on a sliver of granitic rock,
known as the Salinian Block. During this transport, Monterey Canyon
was filled and exhumed many times. The stresses and strains of tectonic
movement created faults and folds that deformed the Salinian Block and
shaped the meanders of the dramatic canyon. Much is still unknown about
Monterey Canyon, including the active processes that continue to change
it. Several students at MLML are working to define the Canyon's morphology
and influences on the coastal marine environment; others are studying
sediment transport to develop a model for submarine canyon erosion.
These investigations are being done in cooperation with the Monterey
Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) with their Remotely Operated
Vehicle (ROV) Ventana. Video observations and sediment cores from the
Canyon's axis are revealing a canyon that is active, but much quieter
than it was during the Pleistocene time. Then, sea level was lower and
sediments were coarser. Today it appears that finer-grained sediments,
along with pesticides and other terrestrial pollutants are being transported
down the Canyon.The San Andreas fault system, a zone of active faults that separates the Pacific Plate from the North American Plate, offers dramatic evidence of active geological processes and tremendous opportunities for their study. Students and faculty are investigating how various geological processes affect such anthropogenic and natural processes as dredge disposals, submarine landslides, and hydrocarbon seeps.
The Center for Habitat Studies (CHS) is a teaching and research laboratory with a focus on mapping and characterizing marine benthic habitats using the latest technologies. We have developed a unique characterization scheme for describing these habitats, and students participated in the development of a code to assign attributes to habitat types in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The products developed at the CHS delineate and describe seafloor conditions, and have applications in fisheries management and the design of marine reserves. Active research is primarily focused on the study of habitat associations for fishes and, to a lesser extent, invertebrates. Students have studied fisheries habitats in various regions including: Alaska, Hawaii, California, Baja California, San Juan Islands, Washington and Canada. Collaboration with fisheries managers and other researchers is an important component of all of the work we do at the Center for Habitat Studies. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, California Department of Fish and Game, National College Sea Grant Program, NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, UC Davis Marine Ecosystem Health Program, the Dickinson Foundation, and others are partners in active projects.
Gary Greene and a Geological Oceanography class in the field
