Landscapes

Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and countless visitors who live, recreate, consume resources, and face the risk of natural hazards in the region. This project produces high-quality, multi-purpose geologic maps, databases, and reports that portray our understanding of the region’s four-dimensional geologic framework. We conduct stratigraphic, structural, geomorphological...

This project is a comprehensive scientific investigation into the stratigraphic, structural, and geomorphic framework of the Grand Canyon and the lower Colorado River corridor. We are using multiscale surficial and bedrock geologic mapping in combination with stratigraphic, geochronologic, and geophysical studies to develop a stronger understanding of the of the river, its iconic landscapes, and...

The Pacific Northwest is an area created by active and complex geological processes. On its path to the Pacific Ocean, the Columbia River slices through a chain of active volcanoes located along the western margin of the U.S. in Washington, Oregon, and northern California. These volcanoes rest above the active Cascadia subduction zone, which is the boundary where the oceanic tectonic plate dives...

Warming and thawing of permafrost soils in the Arctic is expected to become widespread over the coming decades. Permafrost thaw changes ecosystem structure and function, affects resource availability for wildlife and society, and decreases ground stability which affects human infrastructure. Since permafrost soils contain about half of the global soil carbon (C) pool, the magnitude of C losses...

This project uses geologic and geomorphic mapping in the context of societally relevant problems in the Earth’s critical zone. Leveraging interdisciplinary research ties and interagency collaborations, it utilizes remote sensing data, corroborated with field observations, to determine i) the spatial distribution of geomorphic processes and ages of Quaternary deposits in the context of active...