1st Edition

Pacific Northwest Coastal Environments Earthquakes and Sea Level Rise

By Ronald C. Chaney Copyright 2025
    232 Pages 138 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Pacific Northwest Coastal Environments: Earthquakes and Sea Level Rise investigates the potential impacts of changes in global sea level by examining historical sea and land levels, projected future levels, and by determining how those changes may affect future tides and storm surges to inform their potential to cause harmful impacts. This region has a unique interaction of land, sea, and tectonics, and climate change can initiate issues ranging from an inundation of coastal areas due to both sea level rise and potential tsunami, to the retreat of coastal shorelines due to erosion caused by both tidal action and wave runup.

    • Presents sea cliff retreat mitigation techniques.
    • Discusses interaction between subduction zone earthquakes and vertical land movement.
    • Includes case studies of wave refraction and reflection.

    Introduction. NORTHWEST PACIFIC COASTAL GEOLOGY ISSUES. Marine and Coastal Geology. NORTHERN PACIFIC OCEAN ISSUES. North Pacific Ocean. Tides. Wave Characterization. COASTAL SOIL AND ROCK MATERIALS. Sources and Characteristics of Beach Materials. CHANGING SEA LEVEL AND CLIFF RETREAT. Relative Sea Levels. Cliff Retreat. EFFECTS ON MAN-MADE STRUCTURES. Cliff Retreat Mitigation Measures.

    Biography

    Ronald C. Chaney is emeritus professor of environmental resources engineering, former director of the Telonicher Marine Laboratory, and head of vessel operations at Cal Poly Humboldt (formally Humboldt State University) in Arcata, California. Prior to that, he was an associate professor of civil engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He received his BSCE and MSCE from Cal State University -Long Beach, and a PhD in engineering from the University of California-Los Angeles.  Dr. Chaney was previously the editor of the International Journal of Marine Geotechnology, co-editor of the Journal of Marine Georesources and Geotechnology, and co-editor of the American Society for Testing and Materials’s Geotechnical Testing Journal. He is the author and co-author of the books Seafloor Processes and Geotechnology, Environmental Geotechnology 2nd edition, and Marine Geology and Geotechnology of the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. He is a fellow of both ASCE and ASTM. Dr. Chaney is also both a licensed Civil and Geotechnical Engineer in California, and a retired licensed Professional Engineer in Oregon.