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Adrian M Bender

I study how Alaska's landscapes adjust to earthquake-related rock uplift, climatic change, and human action. My science is strongly fieldwork-oriented, and also uses geographic information systems, digital topography analysis, simple models, and collaborations with academic experts in cosmogenic isotope geochemistry and luminescence dating. Results from my work provide the general public and scientific community with basic information about how, when, where, and how fast or slow Alaska's land surface has uplifted, eroded, and produced mineral resources such as placer gold.

Professional Experience

  • 2015 - Present  Geologist, USGS Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska

  • 2012 - 2015       Physical Science Tech, USGS Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska

  • 2014 - 2015       Graduate Research Assistant, Western Washington University

  • 2013 - 2014       Graduate Teaching Assistant, Western Washington University

  • 2010 - 2012       Undergraduate Lab Assistant, University of Alaska, Anchorage

Education and Certifications

  • M.S.   2015   Western Washington University (WWU)    Geology

  • B.S.    2012   University of Alaska, Anchorage (UAA)   Geology

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • American Geophysical Union (2012-present)

  • Geological Society of America (2013-present)

Honors and Awards

  • WWU Outstanding Graduate Award, Geology Department (2015)

  • Hecla-Greens Creek Scholarship (2011)

  • Chugach Gem and Mineral Society Scholarship (2012)

  • Fran Ulmer Transformative Research Award, UAA (2012)

  • Global Change Research Grant, UA Statewide (2012)

  • Geological Society of America Graduate Student Research Grant (2014)

  • Geology Graduate Student Research Grant, WWU (2014)

Science and Products

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Image: Denali Fault

Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards

Alaska has more large earthquakes than the rest of the United States combined. More than three-quarters of the state’s population live in an area that can experience a magnitude 7 earthquake. Our research provides objective science that helps stakeholders prepare for and mitigate the effects of future earthquakes and tsunamis, which bolsters the economic health and well-being of Alaska and the...
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Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, Subduction Zone Science
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Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards

Alaska has more large earthquakes than the rest of the United States combined. More than three-quarters of the state’s population live in an area that can experience a magnitude 7 earthquake. Our research provides objective science that helps stakeholders prepare for and mitigate the effects of future earthquakes and tsunamis, which bolsters the economic health and well-being of Alaska and the...
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Map of Alaska with red lines

Alaska Seismic Hazard Map

The National Seismic Hazard Maps developed by the USGS show the spatial probability of peak earthquake-driven ground motion levels. Since the last revisions to the map for Alaska in 2007, scientists have made significant advances in understanding active faulting, fault slip rates, and fault behavior.
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Alaska Science Center
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Alaska Seismic Hazard Map

The National Seismic Hazard Maps developed by the USGS show the spatial probability of peak earthquake-driven ground motion levels. Since the last revisions to the map for Alaska in 2007, scientists have made significant advances in understanding active faulting, fault slip rates, and fault behavior.
Learn More
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Fault offset along the Queen Charlotte Fault

Characterizing the Active Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System

This research aims to better characterize the earthquake potential of the southern Fairweather Fault in order to provide more accurate fault source data for the USGS National Seismic Hazard Map. Our approach interrogates lidar data and satellite imagery, applies paleoseismological methods to examine earthquake history, and leverages partnerships with USGS scientists from Colorado and California...
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Alaska Science Center
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Characterizing the Active Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System

This research aims to better characterize the earthquake potential of the southern Fairweather Fault in order to provide more accurate fault source data for the USGS National Seismic Hazard Map. Our approach interrogates lidar data and satellite imagery, applies paleoseismological methods to examine earthquake history, and leverages partnerships with USGS scientists from Colorado and California...
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Filter Total Items: 14

Central Alaska Cosmogenic Isotope Burial Age Data Collected 2020-2022

This data release includes three tables containing cosmogenic beryllium-10 and aluminum-26 concentrations and related data from samples collected at four sites in central Alaska in 2020, prepared in 2022 at the University of Vermont (UVM), and measured at the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement lab (PRIME) in 2022. The file "geology_siteLocations_centralAK_bender.csv" contains site locations in the NA
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Alaska Science Center

Sediment Transport Data from the Totatlanika River, Alaska, August 2021

This data package provides four datasets acquired for the purpose of quantifying parameters affecting sediment trasport along the Totatlanika River, which drains the minerally endowed and tectonically active northern Alaska Range. The datasets provide measures of: (1) channel geometry, (2) boulders, (3) sediment grains size, and (4) water flow. The data can be used to understand sediment transport
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Alaska Science Center

Totatlanika River Terrace Luminescence Age Data Collected 2020-2022

This dataset comprises three tables containing infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) ages and related data from samples collected at seven terrace sites along the Totatlanika River in central Alaska in 2020 and 2021. The IRSL ages and data were generated from the samples at the Utah State University Luminescence Lab. The ages were determined to enable computation of rates of bedrock incision alo
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Alaska Science Center

Charley River Cosmogenic Isotope Data Collected 2019-2021

This data release comprises three tables containing cosmogenic beryllium-10 and aluminum-26 concentrations and related data from samples collected at four sites along the Charley River in central Alaska in 2019, prepared in 2020 at the University of Vermont (UVM), and measured at the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement lab (PRIME) in 2021. The file "geology_siteLocations_Charley_bender_2022.csv" conta
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Alaska Science Center

Radiocarbon and Luminescence Data for Fairweather Fault Investigation, Glacier Bay National Park, Southeast Alaska

This dataset is comprised of two tables with age data along the Fairweather fault in Glacier Bay National Park. The tables are: (1) radiocarbon dates analyzed at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility (NOSAMS), and (2) infrared stimulated luminescence ages determined by the Utah State University (USU) Luminescence Laboratory.
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Alaska Science Center

Fodar Orthomosaic and Digital Elevation Model of the Totatlanika River Corridor (Alaska, USA) Acquired August 2021

This dataset provides a digital elevation model derived from airborne fodar data acquired in 2021 on August 31 over the Totatlanika River in central Alaska. The term fodar is a portmanteau of foto and lidar, coined by Matt Nolan, which describes a method of quantifying the color and elevation of Earth surfaces via airborne small-format digital camera photography.
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Alaska Science Center

Field Data Collected 2018 to Document Human-induced Gorge Incision at The Kink (Fortymile River, Alaska)

This dataset comprises four tables containing channel survey cross section data, field observations including channel width and bank material, measured surface water velocity, and alluvial grain size data collected along the North Fork Fortymile River near a man-made meander cutoff called The Kink. The data release also contains eight field photos used to obtain grain size distribution; four photo
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Alaska Science Center

Field reconnaissance of ground failure triggered by shaking during the 2018 M7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake

These data present geolocated photographs, GPS tracks, and field-mapped ground failures collected during the USGS reconnaissance of ground failures following the 2018 M7.1 Anchorage Earthquake.
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Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Recovery Activities

Geologic Inputs for the 2023 Alaska Update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM)

This data release is composed of three crustal (as opposed to subduction zone) geologic input datasets for the 2023 Alaska update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM): 1) fault section vector line data, 2) fault zone vector polygon data, and 3) accompanying earthquake geology attributes.
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Alaska Science Center

Alaska Fault Trace Mapping, 2021

This dataset provides a detailed (1:10,000) digital map of fault and fold traces in Alaska, USA based on features identified in the freely available ArcticDEM 3.0. The fault traces represented in this dataset either revise the location and accuracy of known active faults or folds archived in the USGS Quaternary Fault and Fold Database, or represent the surface traces of active structures not previ
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Alaska Science Center

Airborne Lidar-based Digital Elevation Models of Coastal Montague Island (Alaska) Acquired September 2018

This dataset provides a digital elevation model mosaic derived from airborne lidar data acquired in 2018 from September 2-3 over eight separate areas along Alaska's Montague Island coast, between Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska.
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Alaska Science Center

Fortymile River Cosmogenic Isotope and Luminescence Data Collected 2016-2019

This dataset comprises four tables containing cosmogenic beryllium-10 and aluminum-26 concentrations and related data, as well as infrared stimulated luminescence data, from samples collected at 21 sites along the Fortymile River in eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada between 2016 to 2018, and processed between 2016 and 2019. The file "geology_siteLocations_Fortymile_bender_2020.csv" contains site lo
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Alaska Science Center
A USGS scientist is collecting a sample of bedrock for new geochronologic analysis on the flanks of Victoria Mountain in the Yukon-Tanana upland of eastern interior Alaska.
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A USGS scientist is collecting structural measurements from a bedrock outcrop in the West Crazy Mountains in eastern interior Alaska. Fireweed is in bloom along the slopes.
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USGS scientists in helicopter conduct an aerial inspection along Cook Inlet tide flat at Earthquake Park in Anchorage, AK
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Helicopter view of Earthquake damage of Minnesota Drive onramp, Anchorage, AK
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2018 Potter Hill landslide 1, Anchorage, AK
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A scientist stands on bedrock cut by the North Fork Fortymile River in response to human mining activity in 1900.
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A scientist standing on the pre-1900 riverbed that is now 20 feet above the rapids at The Kink on the North Fork Fortymile River
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USGS scientist at The Kink, North Fork Fortymile River, Alaska
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Filter Total Items: 19

Rapid active thrust faulting at the northern Alaska Range front

Plate convergence rates strongly influence seismicity and mountain building inboard of convergent margins, but the distribution and kinematics of structures accommodating farfield convergence can be elusive. In interior Alaska, Yakutat microplate convergence drives late Pleistocene–recent right slip on the Denali fault, but westward-decreasing slip rates leave substantial residual Yakutat motion u
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Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, Tammy M. Rittenour, James V. Jones
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Alaska Science Center

Yukon River incision drove organic carbon burial in the Bering Sea during global climate changes at 2.6 and 1 Ma

River erosion affects the carbon cycle and thus climate by exporting terrigenous carbon to seafloor sediment and by nourishing CO2-consuming marine life. The Yukon River–Bering Sea system preserves rare source-to-sink records of these processes across profound changes in global climate during the past 5 million years (Ma). Here, we expand the terrestrial erosion record by dating terraces along the
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Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, Lee B. Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc W. Caffee, James V. Jones, Douglas C. Kreiner
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Alaska Science Center

Bedrock gorge incision via anthropogenic meander cutoff

Bedrock river-gorge incision represents a fundamental landscape-shaping process, but a dearth of observational data at >10 yr timescales impedes understanding of gorge formation. I quantify 102 yr rates and processes of gorge incision using historical records, field observations, and topographic and image analysis of a human-caused bedrock meander cutoff along the North Fork Fortymile River in Ala
Authors
Adrian Bender
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Alaska Science Center

Geomorphic expression and slip rate of the Fairweather fault, southeast Alaska, and evidence for predecessors of the 1958 rupture

Active traces of the southern Fairweather fault were revealed by light detection and ranging (lidar) and show evidence for transpressional deformation between North America and the Yakutat block in southeast Alaska. We map the Holocene geomorphic expression of tectonic deformation along the southern 30 km of the Fairweather fault, which ruptured in the 1958 moment magnitude 7.8 earthquake. Digital
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Robert C. Witter, Adrian Bender, Katherine Scharer, Christopher DuRoss, Peter J. Haeussler, Richard O. Lease
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Alaska Science Center

Extreme Quaternary plate boundary exhumation and strike slip localized along the southern Fairweather fault, Alaska, USA

The Fairweather fault (southeastern Alaska, USA) is Earth’s fastest-slipping intracontinental strike-slip fault, but its long-term role in localizing Yakutat–(Pacific–)North America plate motion is poorly constrained. This plate boundary fault transitions northward from pure strike slip to transpression where it comes onshore and undergoes a <25°, 30-km-long restraining double bend. To the east, a
Authors
Richard O. Lease, Peter J. Haeussler, Robert C. Witter, Daniel F. Stockli, Adrian Bender, Harvey Kelsey, Paul O'Sullivan
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center

Dating by cosmogenic nuclides

Since the 1990s, cosmogenic nuclides have revolutionized the study of Earth surface processes, particularly the understanding of rates and dates. These nuclides, including 3He, 10Be, 14C, 21Ne, 26Al, and 36Cl, enable dating of landforms and the measurement of erosion rates both at the scale of drainage basins and at specific locations on Earth's surface. Cosmogenic nuclides are produced at low rat
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Paul R. Bierman, Adrian Bender, Andrew J. Christ, Lee B. Corbett, Christopher T. Halsted, Eric W. Portenga, Amanda H. Schmidt
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Alaska Science Center

Ancient rivers and critical minerals in eastern Alaska

No abstract available.
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, James V. Jones, Douglas C. Kreiner
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Alaska Science Center

Late Cenozoic climate change paces landscape adjustments to Yukon River capture

Late Cenozoic cooling and changes in glacial–interglacial cycle tempo are thought to increase global rates of erosion starting ~3 million years ago (Ma). Bedrock rivers set rates and patterns of erosion in most landscapes, but constraints on river response to late Cenozoic climate change remain elusive. Here, we determine cosmogenic isotope and luminescence ages of well-preserved bedrock terraces
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, Lee B. Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc Caffee, Tammy M. Rittenour
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Alaska Science Center

Ground failure triggered by shaking during the November 30, 2018, magnitude 7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake

We developed an initial inventory of ground failure features from the November 30, 2018, magnitude 7.1 Anchorage earthquake. This inventory of 153 features is from ground-based observations soon after the earthquake (December 5–10) that include the presence or absence of liquefaction, landslides, and individual crack traces of lateral spreads and incipient landslides. This is not a complete invent
Authors
Alex R. R. Grant, Randall W. Jibson, Robert C. Witter, Kate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson, Adrian M. Bender
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, Earthquake Science Center, Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Recovery Activities

Ground failure from the Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake of 30 November 2018

Investigation of ground failure triggered by the 2018 MwMw 7.1 Anchorage earthquake showed that landslides, liquefaction, and ground cracking all occurred and caused significant damage. Shallow rock falls and rock slides were the most abundant types of landslides, but they occurred in smaller numbers than global models that are based on earthquake magnitude predict; this might result from the 2018
Authors
Randall W. Jibson, Alex R. R. Grant, Robert C. Witter, Kate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson, Adrian Bender
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, Earthquake Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Recovery Activities

The 30 November 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage Earthquake

The Mw 7.1 47 km deep earthquake that occurred on 30 November 2018 had deep societal impacts across southcentral Alaska and exhibited phenomena of broad scientific interest. We document observations that point to future directions of research and hazard mitigation. The rupture mechanism, aftershocks, and deformation of the mainshock are consistent with extension inside the Pacific plate near the d
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Michael E. West, Adrian Bender, Matthew Gardine, Lea Gardine, Kara Gately, Peter J. Haeussler, Wael Hassan, Franz Meyer, Cole Richards, Natalia Ruppert, Carl Tape, John Thornley, Robert Witter
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, Subduction Zone Science

Pace and process of active folding and fluvial incision across the Kantishna Hills anticline, central Alaska

Rates of northern Alaska Range thrust system deformation are poorly constrained. Shortening at the system's west end is focused on the Kantishna Hills anticline. Where the McKinley River cuts across the anticline, the landscape records both Late Pleistocene deformation and climatic change. New optically stimulated luminescence and cosmogenic 10Be depth profile dates of three McKinley River terrace
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard O. Lease, Peter J. Haeussler, Tammy M. Rittenour, Lee B. Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc W. Caffee
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Alaska Science Center

Science and Products

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government