CMG Scientists Meet with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Discuss Oil-Spill Hazards in San Francisco Bay

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CMG Scientists Meet with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Discuss Oil-Spill Hazards in San Francisco Bay

By Paul Carlson
September 2000

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Paul Carlson, John Chin, and Florence Wong met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the problem of shallow bedrock knobs in central San Francisco Bay. These knobs of Franciscan Complex rocks rise from the bay floor to within 11 m of the water surface. Of the more than 4,000 ocean-going vessels that travel through west central San Francisco Bay annually, more than 200 have drafts in excess of 12 m. When loaded, these deep-draft vessels draw more water than is currently available over the bedrock knobs.
The Corps must decide whether and/or how they can lower the tops of the knobs below the hull depths of large ships in order to avoid potentially disastrous oil spills in the bay. We met with geotechnical specialists in July and biologists in August to show them some of our data, which should help address some of the technical and environmental problems.

Multibeam Data and Socio-Economic Issues in West-Central San Francisco Bay
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

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September 2000

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in this issue: cover story:
Recovery of Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley

Crater Lake Mapping

Lake Erie Nearshore Habitat

Channel Islands

Pinnacles Area—Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Maine

Seafloor Mapping Seminar

Ocean Science Forums

Blacks in Government

SF Bay Oil-Spill Hazards

Gas Hydrates

Presentations

Arrivals

Visitors

September Publications List