BOEM has funded an interagency study with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the California Natural Resource Agency to characterize sand resources in coordination with Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup.
The USGS will review and synthesize existing geological data and conduct surveys and sampling to map sand and gravel resources in marine settings in federal and state waters offshore California. These study areas could potentially provide sand resources to nearby Beach Erosion Concern Areas as identified by the California Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup (CSMW) Beach Erosion Assessment Survey (CSMW, 2010) and the California Regional Sediment Management Plans. The three study areas are: the San Francisco Littoral Cell, the Oceanside Littoral Cell offshore northern San Diego , and the Silver Strand Littoral Cell offshore southern San Diego.
The objective of this Sand Resource Assessment is to produce maps with the locations, thicknesses, and sediment grain-size information of sand and gravel deposits. Maps will be constructed using a combination of new and existing information, including high-resolution bathymetry, seafloor characteristics derived from side-scan sonar, sub-bottom geophysical surveys, seafloor sediment grab samples, and sediment cores. The USGS will conduct new surveys and coring to fill gaps in existing data.
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California Offshore Map Sites
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Offshore San Francisco Bathymetric Map
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