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John C. Mars
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David Houseknecht
Geologist
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Alaska Coastal Erosion

About	Location Map	Images
Drew Point, 2004. Coastal erosion of mud-rich permafrost along Beaufort Sea coastline. Cliff height is ~3–4 m. Waves undercut permafrost and cause block slumping (center of photo). Photograph depicts no sand beach present to protect permafrost. (Larger Image)   Drew Point, 2004. Coastal erosion, undercutting of permafrost. Photo by Gary Clow (USGS), (Larger Image)         Surface Geology of Study Area, IFSAR - CIR (2002) (Larger Image)   A--Coastal Erosion and Lake Evolution Near Cape Halkett Topographic map, 1955. (Larger Image)         B--Coastal Erosion and Lake Evolution Near Cape Halkett Landsat 5, 1985. (Larger Image)   C--Coastal Erosion and Lake Evolution Near Cape Halkett Landsat 5, 2005. (Larger Image) Topographic map and Landsat thematic mapper scenes illustrating coastal lake drainage and fl ooding of old lake bed to produce estuary or marine bay. A: 1955 topographic map depicts intact thermokarst lake (light blue represents water). B: Band 5 Landsat image from 1985 illustrates that coastal erosion has breached and drained thermokarst lake exposing ~70% of lake bed (black represents water). C: Band 5 Landsat image from 2005 illustrates that ~75% of lake bed has been flooded, forming new estuary or marine bay (black represents water). (Larger Image)