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
Filter Total Items: 19
Field reconnaissance of ground failure triggered by shaking during the 2018 M7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake 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.
Geologic Inputs for the 2023 Alaska Update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 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.
Alaska Fault Trace Mapping, 2021 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...
Airborne Lidar-based Digital Elevation Models of Coastal Montague Island (Alaska) Acquired September 2018 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.
Fortymile River Cosmogenic Isotope and Luminescence Data Collected 2016-2019 Fortymile River Cosmogenic Isotope and Luminescence Data Collected 2016-2019
This dataset is 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 "burialDating_siteLocations_fortymile_bender.csv" contains site...
Digital Elevation Models of Glacier Bay National Park, Between Lituya Bay and Icy Point, Alaska, Derived from Airborne Lidar Data Acquired in September 2015 Digital Elevation Models of Glacier Bay National Park, Between Lituya Bay and Icy Point, Alaska, Derived from Airborne Lidar Data Acquired in September 2015
This dataset provides four digital elevation models derived from airborne lidar data acquired over four separate areas along and adjacent to the Fairweather Fault along the remote Gulf of Alaska coast within Glacier Bay National Park. In 1958, the Fairweather Fault in southeast Alaska ruptured over 260 km between Yakutat Bay and Cross Sound, producing the magnitude 7.8 Lituya Bay...
Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada
This data release provides three geospatical datasets showing the surface trace of the Eastern Denali Fault between the Alaska-Yukon international border and the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada. The datasets are: (1) a photogrammetry-based digital elevation model (DEM; average resolution of 4 m/pixel), (2) 13 digital aerial photo orthomosaics, and (3) a detailed (1:2,000 to 1...
Filter Total Items: 25
Ancient rivers and critical minerals in eastern Alaska Ancient rivers and critical minerals in eastern Alaska
No abstract available.
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard Lease, James Jones, Douglas Kreiner
Late Cenozoic climate change paces landscape adjustments to Yukon River capture 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...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard Lease, Lee Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc Caffee, Tammy Rittenour
Ground failure triggered by shaking during the November 30, 2018, magnitude 7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake 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...
Authors
Alex Grant, Randall Jibson, Robert C. Witter, Kate Allstadt, Eric Thompson, Adrian Bender
Ground failure from the Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake of 30 November 2018 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...
Authors
Randall Jibson, Alex Grant, Robert C. Witter, Kate Allstadt, Eric Thompson, Adrian Bender
The 30 November 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage Earthquake 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...
Authors
Michael 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
Pace and process of active folding and fluvial incision across the Kantishna Hills anticline, central Alaska 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...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard Lease, Peter J. Haeussler, Tammy Rittenour, Lee Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc Caffee
Ongoing bedrock incision of the Fortymile River driven by Pliocene–Pleistocene Yukon River capture, eastern Alaska, USA, and Yukon, Canada Ongoing bedrock incision of the Fortymile River driven by Pliocene–Pleistocene Yukon River capture, eastern Alaska, USA, and Yukon, Canada
Quantification of river incision via process rate laws represents a key goal of geomorphic research, but such models often fail to reproduce traits of natural rivers responding to base-level lowering. The Fortymile River flows from eastern Alaska in the United States to the Yukon River in Canada across a tectonically quiescent region with near-uniform precipitation and bedrock erosivity...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard Lease, Lee Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc Caffee
Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Within Glacier Bay National Park in southeastern Alaska, the Fairweather Fault represents the onshore boundary between two of Earth’s constantly moving tectonic plates: the North American Plate and the Yakutat microplate. Satellite measurements indicate that during the past few decades the Yakutat microplate has moved northwest at a rate of nearly 5 centimeters per year relative to the...
Authors
Robert C. Witter, Adam LeWinter, Adrian Bender, Craig Glennie, David Finnegan
Eastern Denali Fault surface trace map, eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada Eastern Denali Fault surface trace map, eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada
We map the 385-kilometer (km) long surface trace of the right-lateral, strike-slip Denali Fault between the Totschunda-Denali Fault intersection in Alaska, United States and the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada. In Alaska, digital elevation models based on light detection and ranging and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data enabled our fault mapping at scales of 1:2,000...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Peter Haeussler
The Peters Hills basin, a Neogene wedge-top basin on the Broad Pass thrust fault, south-central Alaska The Peters Hills basin, a Neogene wedge-top basin on the Broad Pass thrust fault, south-central Alaska
The Neogene Peters Hills basin is a small terrestrial basin that formed along the south flank of the Alaska Range during a time in which there was regional shortening. The formation of the Peters Hills basin is consistent with it being a wedge-top basin that formed on top of the active southeast-vergent Broad Pass thrust fault. Movement along this thrust raised a ridge of Jurassic and...
Authors
Peter Haeussler, Richard W. Saltus, Richard Stanley, Natalia Ruppert, Kristen Lewis, Susan Karl, Adrian Bender
Differential uplift and incision of the Yakima River terraces, central Washington State Differential uplift and incision of the Yakima River terraces, central Washington State
The fault-related Yakima folds deform Miocene basalts and younger deposits of the Columbia Plateau in central Washington State. Geodesy implies ~2 mm/yr of NNE directed shortening across the folds, but until now the distribution and rates of Quaternary deformation among individual structures has been unclear. South of Ellensburg, Washington, the Yakima River cuts a ~600 m deep canyon...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Colin Amos, Paul Bierman, Dylan Rood, Lydia Staisch, Harvey Kelsey, Brian Sherrod
Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust
Current models used to assess earthquake and tsunami hazards are inadequate where creep dominates a subduction megathrust. Here we report geological evidence for large tsunamis, occurring on average every 300–340 years, near the source areas of the 1946 and 1957 Aleutian tsunamis. These areas bookend a postulated seismic gap over 200 km long where modern geodetic measurements indicate...
Authors
Robert C. Witter, G. Carver, Richard Briggs, Guy Gelfenbaum, R.D. Koehler, SeanPaul M. La Selle, Adrian Bender, S.E. Engelhart, E. Hemphill-Haley, Troy Hill
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 19
Field reconnaissance of ground failure triggered by shaking during the 2018 M7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake 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.
Geologic Inputs for the 2023 Alaska Update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 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.
Alaska Fault Trace Mapping, 2021 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...
Airborne Lidar-based Digital Elevation Models of Coastal Montague Island (Alaska) Acquired September 2018 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.
Fortymile River Cosmogenic Isotope and Luminescence Data Collected 2016-2019 Fortymile River Cosmogenic Isotope and Luminescence Data Collected 2016-2019
This dataset is 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 "burialDating_siteLocations_fortymile_bender.csv" contains site...
Digital Elevation Models of Glacier Bay National Park, Between Lituya Bay and Icy Point, Alaska, Derived from Airborne Lidar Data Acquired in September 2015 Digital Elevation Models of Glacier Bay National Park, Between Lituya Bay and Icy Point, Alaska, Derived from Airborne Lidar Data Acquired in September 2015
This dataset provides four digital elevation models derived from airborne lidar data acquired over four separate areas along and adjacent to the Fairweather Fault along the remote Gulf of Alaska coast within Glacier Bay National Park. In 1958, the Fairweather Fault in southeast Alaska ruptured over 260 km between Yakutat Bay and Cross Sound, producing the magnitude 7.8 Lituya Bay...
Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada
This data release provides three geospatical datasets showing the surface trace of the Eastern Denali Fault between the Alaska-Yukon international border and the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada. The datasets are: (1) a photogrammetry-based digital elevation model (DEM; average resolution of 4 m/pixel), (2) 13 digital aerial photo orthomosaics, and (3) a detailed (1:2,000 to 1...
Filter Total Items: 25
Ancient rivers and critical minerals in eastern Alaska Ancient rivers and critical minerals in eastern Alaska
No abstract available.
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard Lease, James Jones, Douglas Kreiner
Late Cenozoic climate change paces landscape adjustments to Yukon River capture 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...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard Lease, Lee Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc Caffee, Tammy Rittenour
Ground failure triggered by shaking during the November 30, 2018, magnitude 7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake 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...
Authors
Alex Grant, Randall Jibson, Robert C. Witter, Kate Allstadt, Eric Thompson, Adrian Bender
Ground failure from the Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake of 30 November 2018 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...
Authors
Randall Jibson, Alex Grant, Robert C. Witter, Kate Allstadt, Eric Thompson, Adrian Bender
The 30 November 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage Earthquake 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...
Authors
Michael 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
Pace and process of active folding and fluvial incision across the Kantishna Hills anticline, central Alaska 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...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard Lease, Peter J. Haeussler, Tammy Rittenour, Lee Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc Caffee
Ongoing bedrock incision of the Fortymile River driven by Pliocene–Pleistocene Yukon River capture, eastern Alaska, USA, and Yukon, Canada Ongoing bedrock incision of the Fortymile River driven by Pliocene–Pleistocene Yukon River capture, eastern Alaska, USA, and Yukon, Canada
Quantification of river incision via process rate laws represents a key goal of geomorphic research, but such models often fail to reproduce traits of natural rivers responding to base-level lowering. The Fortymile River flows from eastern Alaska in the United States to the Yukon River in Canada across a tectonically quiescent region with near-uniform precipitation and bedrock erosivity...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Richard Lease, Lee Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc Caffee
Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Within Glacier Bay National Park in southeastern Alaska, the Fairweather Fault represents the onshore boundary between two of Earth’s constantly moving tectonic plates: the North American Plate and the Yakutat microplate. Satellite measurements indicate that during the past few decades the Yakutat microplate has moved northwest at a rate of nearly 5 centimeters per year relative to the...
Authors
Robert C. Witter, Adam LeWinter, Adrian Bender, Craig Glennie, David Finnegan
Eastern Denali Fault surface trace map, eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada Eastern Denali Fault surface trace map, eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada
We map the 385-kilometer (km) long surface trace of the right-lateral, strike-slip Denali Fault between the Totschunda-Denali Fault intersection in Alaska, United States and the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada. In Alaska, digital elevation models based on light detection and ranging and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data enabled our fault mapping at scales of 1:2,000...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Peter Haeussler
The Peters Hills basin, a Neogene wedge-top basin on the Broad Pass thrust fault, south-central Alaska The Peters Hills basin, a Neogene wedge-top basin on the Broad Pass thrust fault, south-central Alaska
The Neogene Peters Hills basin is a small terrestrial basin that formed along the south flank of the Alaska Range during a time in which there was regional shortening. The formation of the Peters Hills basin is consistent with it being a wedge-top basin that formed on top of the active southeast-vergent Broad Pass thrust fault. Movement along this thrust raised a ridge of Jurassic and...
Authors
Peter Haeussler, Richard W. Saltus, Richard Stanley, Natalia Ruppert, Kristen Lewis, Susan Karl, Adrian Bender
Differential uplift and incision of the Yakima River terraces, central Washington State Differential uplift and incision of the Yakima River terraces, central Washington State
The fault-related Yakima folds deform Miocene basalts and younger deposits of the Columbia Plateau in central Washington State. Geodesy implies ~2 mm/yr of NNE directed shortening across the folds, but until now the distribution and rates of Quaternary deformation among individual structures has been unclear. South of Ellensburg, Washington, the Yakima River cuts a ~600 m deep canyon...
Authors
Adrian Bender, Colin Amos, Paul Bierman, Dylan Rood, Lydia Staisch, Harvey Kelsey, Brian Sherrod
Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust
Current models used to assess earthquake and tsunami hazards are inadequate where creep dominates a subduction megathrust. Here we report geological evidence for large tsunamis, occurring on average every 300–340 years, near the source areas of the 1946 and 1957 Aleutian tsunamis. These areas bookend a postulated seismic gap over 200 km long where modern geodetic measurements indicate...
Authors
Robert C. Witter, G. Carver, Richard Briggs, Guy Gelfenbaum, R.D. Koehler, SeanPaul M. La Selle, Adrian Bender, S.E. Engelhart, E. Hemphill-Haley, Troy Hill
*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