Archaeological and Biological Assessment of Submerged Landforms off the Pacific Coast
Jillian Maloney in conjunction with collaborators from the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, CSU San Bernardino, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and the Submerged Resources Center (SRC) of the National Park Service performed an ocean bottom survey aboard the NOAA R/V Shearwater this past week. The study sought to establish a broad geologic stetting for the area, identify areas of likely achaeological resourse preservation, and also identify areas of likely seafloor seep habitats. Two pieces of geophysical equipment were used to accomplish these goals, Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Edgetech Chirp sub-bottom profiler and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Klien 3000 sidescan sonar, operated by SRC. Researchers and students spent 5 days aboard the R/V Shearwater surveying locations between and around Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands