The oceanographic processes that disturb the continental shelf include the actions of surface waves, internal waves, and currents (tidal, density, wave-driven, wind-driven, and geostrophic). Because the North Pacific Ocean can generate extremely large surface waves that yield relatively high near-bed wave orbital velocities, wave-generated near-bed currents are often considered to be the dominant mechanism for seabed disturbances along the California coast (Sherwood and others, 1994; Storlazzi and Jaffe, 2002; Storlazzi and others, 2003). In this...