Seafloor Character: Offshore of Santa Barbara, California, 2010

Description:

This layer is a georeferenced raster image containing seafloor character data for the offshore area of Santa Barbara, California. This map shows six substrate classes of the Offshore of Santa Barbara map area. The six substrate classes mapped in this area have been colored to indicate which of the following California Marine Life Protection Act depth zones and slope classes they belong: Depth Zone 2 (intertidal to 30 m), Depth Zone 3 (30 to 100 m), and Slope Class 1, 0 degrees to 5 degrees (flat). Depth Zone 1 (intertidal), Depth Zones 4 and 5 (greater than 100 m), and Slope Classes 2 to 4, greater than 5 degrees (sloping to vertical) are not present in this map area. The map is created using a supervised classification method described by Cochrane (2008). A map that shows these data is published in Scientific Investigations Map 3281, "California State Waters Map Series--Offshore of Santa Barbara, California." This layer is part of USGS Data Series 781. In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP) to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California's State Waters. CSMP has divided coastal California into 110 map blocks, each to be published individually as United States Geological Survey Open-File Reports (OFRs) or Scientific Investigations Maps (SIMs) at a scale of 1:24,000. Maps display seafloor morphology and character, identify potential marine benthic habitats and illustrate both the seafloor geology and shallow (to about 100 m) subsurface geology. Data layers for bathymetry, bathymetric contours, acoustic backscatter, seafloor character, potential benthic habitat and offshore geology were created for each map block, as well as regional-scale data layers for sediment thickness, depth to transition, transgressive contours, isopachs, predicted distributions of benthic macro-invertebrates and visual observations of benthic habitat from video cruises over the entire state. These data are intended for science researchers, students, policy makers, and the general public. This information is not intended for navigational purposes.The data can be used with geographic information systems (GIS) software to display geologic and oceanographic information. Additionally, this coverage can provide a geologic map for the public and geoscience community to aid in assessments and mitigation of geologic hazards in the coastal region and sufficient geologic information for land-use and land-management decisions both onshore and offshore. This information is not intended for navigational purposes. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.

Resource Link:

https://purl.stanford.edu/bk526xr2877

Identifier:

https://purl.stanford.edu/bk526xr2877

Language:

eng

Creator:

Erdey, Mercedes D., Cochrane, Guy R., Phillips, Eleyne L., Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, and Golden, Nadine E.

Publisher:

Geological Survey (U.S.)

Provider:

Stanford

Resource Class:

Datasets

Resource Type:

Raster data

Subject:

Coasts, Remote sensing, Multibeam mapping, Submarine topography, Sediments (Geology), Marine sediments, Ocean bottom, Seismic reflection method, Oceans, and Imagery and Base Maps

Theme:

Land cover, Imagery, Oceans, and Land Cover

Temporal Coverage:

2005-2010

Date Issued:

2013

Spatial Coverage:

California, Santa Barbara County (Calif.), and Pacific Ocean

Rights:

This item is in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use.

Rights Holder:

This work is in the Public Domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright.

Access Rights:

Public

Format:

GeoTIFF

Georeferenced:

false