identifier
<Introduction | Contacts | References |Site Map | Site Table
Ship Harbor Marsh

USGS Topo Sheet: Cypress Island

Geographic coordinates: 4830.18'° N, 122°40.53' W

Paleoseismic record: Insufficient fieldwork has been completed to evaluate the paleoseismic potential of this site.

Setting: A 350-m-long, 250-m-wide area of freshwater marsh with a small pond on its landward edge borders the east edge of the Washington State Ferry Terminal west of Anacortes. Development, in the form of wharves, a cannery, warehouses, and rail lines, of the marsh and the area surrounding it was extensive earlier in this century. Much of the seaward part of the marsh must have been disturbed by this development, but its landward part, and perhaps the pond, may be less disturbed. The pond may have formed due to compaction of marsh sediment when the area was drained and to raising of the berm that borders the marsh on its north edge. Cannery Lake, on the west edge of the ferry terminal, is a reservoir formed by an embankment constructed along the beach on its north side. Perhaps a sequence of intertidal sediment is preserved beneath the reservoir.

Stratigraphic description: No outcrops or cores have been described.

Paleontology/Paleoecology: No paleontologic work has been completed.

Geologic interpretation: Based on the stratigraphy of other nearby marshes, most of the peaty intertidal sediments beneath this former marsh are probably thin (<0.5 m). However, the marsh is large enough that thicker sequences of intertidal sediment may lie near its center or beneath the pond.

Date of last work at site: September 1997

Status of work: No additional work is planned.

Published information on this site: None

Investigators: A. Nelson

Please use the following format in citing information from this page:

Nelson, A.R., Ship Harbor Marsh, in Bucknam, R.C., compiler, 1999, Atlas of reconnaissance data from paleoseismic studies in the Puget Sound region, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Web Page, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/pacnw/paleo/atlas.html.

This URL is: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/pacnw/paleo/reports/shipharb.htm
Modified July 29, 2002 by Susan Rhea