John Douglas Milliman
1963
Recent marine sediments in Grays Harbor, Washington
Paper
Seattle, WA
University of Washington
MS thesis, Department of Oceanography
Study financed by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Contract AT (45-1 - 1725) and Office of Naval Research contract number Nonr-477(10), Project NR 083 012.
"Grays Harbor forms the estuary of the Chehalis River on the Washington coast, 90 kilometers north of the Columbia River mouth. The estuary is 28 kilometers long, with a maximum width of 24 kilometers. Two north-south trending sand spits narrow the channel entrance to a width of 3.2 kilometers. Approximately 60 percent of the harbor is exposed at mean lower low water.
The main source of sediment is probably the Chehalis River. Calculations indicate that the inner harbor, outer harbor, and south bay are shoaling, while north bay is eroding. The erosion of north bay may be due either to the dredging of inner and outer harbors by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or the construction of ocean jetties. The channel entrance had been eroding until the deterioration of the jetty on Point Chehalis and the dumping of dredge spoils.
Three basic sediment types occur in the harbor: poorly-sorted lag gravel near the channel entrance, well-sorted sands in the outer harbor, southern north bay and the western parts of the inner harbor; poorly sorted silts along the shores of north and south bays and in the Abedeen-Hoquiam area.
Tidal currents appear to control sediment sorting in Grays Harbor. Finer sediment is winnowed out, leaving a lag-deposit of sand and gravel incoming fine sediment by-passes the areas of strong currents. Therefore, the channel entrance has the coarsest sediment and the tidal flats contain the finest grained sediment.
It can be deduced from both direct observations and data from similar areas, that storm waves are responsible for much of the sediment transport in Grays Harbor."
"The objective of this study can be divided into the following aspects: 1.) To describe the marine sediment in Grays Harbor and to chart their horizontal distributions; 2.) To determine the sedimentary environments which caused the sediment distributions; and 3.) To relate the sedimenatry environment to various physical factors such as currents, wave action, and sources of sediments."
1961
1962
Publication date
None planned
-125.917
-123.815
47.035
46.840
None
University of Washington
Department of Oceanography
ISO 19115 Topic Category
Oceans and Estuaries
Location
GeoscientificInformation
NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keyword. Version 5.3.3
Marine Sediments
Biogenic Sediments
Sediment Chemistry
Sedimentary Structures
Sedimentary Textures
Terrigenous Sediments
Geographic Names Information System
Washington
Grays Harbor
Thesis is available at libraries and the University of Washington
Cite John D. Milliman and the University of Washington as originators of the data.
University of Washington
Mail
P.O. Box 357940
University of Washington
Seattle
WA
98195
206-543-5060
Milliman_MS_1963
Screen grab of GIS-produced sample distribution, with bathymetry and land for reference.
JPG
John D. Milliman at the University of Washington for the collection and analysis of data. For inclusion into usSEABED: Digitization: Adam Jackson (USGS); Formatting corrections: Jane Reid (USGS) and Chris Jenkins (University of Colorado)
Tkme: Another editor for formal metadata by Peter N. Schweitzer (U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 22092), version 2.9.13, Microsoft Windows Version 5.1; Microsoft Word 2000 9.0
Data were digitized by hand (typed in), visually compared to source and corrected. Where appropriate, data were tested for completeness using MS Excel.
Data fall within normal ranges for the given parameters.
Appendices IIB (Size analyses of sediments), III (Microscopic analysis of sedimentary consituents), and table 8 (organic carbon in sediments) were completely digitized for inclusion into usSEABED. Not digitized was Appendix IV, Foraminifera identifications.
Navigation technique not noted in report. Latitudes and longitudes given in degrees, minutes, tenths.
Water depths not given.
"A 20 to 40-gram portion of sediment was obtained by quartering each sample; cores were sampled where color and/or texture changed. Each sample was placed in a tared beaker, dried in an oven at 94ºC and weighed. The samples were desalted by shaking in distilled water for 15 minutes, and then centrifuged at 1700 RPM for 20 minutes before decanting. The desalted sample was then mixed with a peptizing agent, Maraperse N (sodium ligno-sulfonate), for ten minutes in a malt mixer. After mixing, the samples were immediately wet-sieved through a 4-phi sieve. The sediment finer than 4 phi was collected in a 1000 cubic centimeter graduated cylinder; the sediment coarser than 4 phi was dried in an oven. The coarse fraction was placed in a nest of 0.25 phi interval sieves, mechanically shaken for 15 minutes...and weighed. ... Fine fraction (finer than 4 phi) size analyses were made at one-phi intervals. A 1000 cubic centimeter graduated cylinder was shaken vigorously and the sediment allowed to settle. Following a procedure based on Waddell's modification of Stokes' Law for settling velocities (Krumbein and Pettijohn, 1938 pg. 104), 20 cubic centimeter pipette aliquots were taken at specific times for each size (4 phi to 11 phi). ... The percentages of sedimentary constituents were determined by investigating the 2-phi and mean grain sizes of the 1961 samples. In order to get a representative count, 500 to 700 grains of each sample were counted. The following separations were made: wood fragments (including marine and terrestrial plant fibers), mica, other minerals (including both minerals and rock fragments), micro fauna, organic fragments (broken shells), and mud galls. ... Heavy minerals were separated from selected samples; a total of 18 samples were analyzed. Following Sternberg (1961, pg. 14), wood and mica samples were separated from the rest of the sample by shaking an inclined board with a vibrating instrument. The other sedimentary constituents reached the bottom of the board before the elongate wood and mica. The mineral portion of each sample was weighed and then placed in bromoform (specific gravity 2.87); the lighter minerals floated and the heavier settled to the bottom. The highly magnetic minerals were then removed by passing a hand magnet over the heavy minerals. The non-magnetic minerals were run thorough a Franz Isodynamic Separator at 0.5 amperes. The part ... not attracted...was found to be mainly rock fragments. The rest of the sample was examined with a binocular microscope and mineral identifications were made. Selected samples from the north bay were analyzed for organic carbon using a wet-combustion in 0.4 N chromic acid (Allison, 1935). A total of 15 samples was analyzed."
Krumbein and Pettijohn, 1938
Sternberg, 1961
Allison, 1935
Unknown
Milliman_MS_1963
University of Washington
Mail
P.O. Box 357940
University of Washington
Seattle
WA
98195
206-543-5060
Vector
Point
78
0.00167
0.00167
Decimal degrees
Point
SDTS point
Source report
Sample number
Sample number based on cruise number and sample number
Source report
Alpha numeric number based on cruise and core information
Depth in core
Subsample depth
Source report
0
0.57
Meters
0.01
Core description
Core description
Source report
Lithologic description of grabs, including color
Gravel
Amount of gravel in source
Source report
0
87.53
Percent
0.01
Sand
Amount of sand in source
Source report
6.97
99
Percent
0.01
Silt
Amount of silt in source
Source report
0.6
81.56
Percent
0.01
Clay
Amount of clay in source
Source report
0
19.06
Percent
0.01
Median
Median grain size
Source report
-3.95
5.78
Phi
0.01
Mean
Mean grain size
Inman, 1952
-2.93
6.25
Phi
0.01
Standard deviation
Standard deviation of grain size dispersion
Inman, 1952
0.14
2.83
Phi
0.01
Skewness (1)
First skewness of grain size dispersion
Inman, 1952
-0.91
0.92
Unitless
0.01
Skewness (2)
Second skewness of grain size dispersion
Inman, 1952
-2.89
6.27
Unitless
0.01
Kurtosis
Kurtosis of grain size dispersion
Inman, 1952
0.36
10.86
Unitless
0.01
Sand/mud ratio
Ratio of sand to mud in sample
Source report
0.07
74.99
Unitless
0.01
Organic carbon
Organic carbon in sample
Allison, 1935
0.01
2.01
Percent
0.01
Fraction percent of phi size class
Fraction percent of phi size class
Source report
Phi size class in fraction percent; from >-4 phi to <11 phi in 0.25 to 1.0 phi bins.
Sedimentary consituents
Identification of sedimentary consituents in selected phi size class.
Source report
Percents of minerals, mica, organic fragments, plant fibers, mud galls in 0.25 mm fraction
Sedimentary consituents
Identification of sedimentary consituents in selected phi size class.
Source report
Percents of minerals, mica, organic fragments, plant fibers, mud galls in mean grain size fraction
Heavy mineral analysis
Identification of heavy minerals in sample
Source report
Heavy mineral (%), magnetic minerals (%), rock fragments, hypersthene, olivine, hornblende, chlorite, corundum.
University of Washington
Mail
P.O. Box 357940
University of Washington
Seattle
WA
98195
206-543-5060
Milliman MS 1963
Although this dataset has been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data. Users of the data should be aware of limitations of the data due to possible imprecision due to navigational inaccuracies and limitations of the statistical data.
Report is available at some libraries and the University of Washington.
None
None
1963
2005
U.S. Geological Survey
Jane A. Reid
Geologist
Physical and mail
400 Natural Bridges Drive
Santa Cruz
CA
95060
831-427-4727
jareid@usgs.gov
Email preferred
CSDGM Version 2
FGDC-STD-001-1998
None
Metadata was written by a user of the data. Any information contained in the physical report is authoritative and supercedes any information given here.