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
Geologic Inputs for the 2023 Alaska Update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM)
Alaska Fault Trace Mapping, 2021
Airborne Lidar-based Digital Elevation Models of Coastal Montague Island (Alaska) Acquired September 2018
Fortymile River Cosmogenic Isotope and Luminescence Data Collected 2016-2019
Digital Elevation Models of Glacier Bay National Park, Between Lituya Bay and Icy Point, Alaska, Derived from Airborne Lidar Data Acquired in September 2015
Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada, 1978-2008
The 30 November 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage Earthquake
Pace and process of active folding and fluvial incision across the Kantishna Hills anticline, central Alaska
Ongoing bedrock incision of the Fortymile River driven by Pliocene–Pleistocene Yukon River capture, eastern Alaska, USA, and Yukon, Canada
Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Eastern Denali Fault surface trace map, eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada
The Peters Hills basin, a Neogene wedge-top basin on the Broad Pass thrust fault, south-central Alaska
Differential uplift and incision of the Yakima River terraces, central Washington State
Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust
Testing the use of bulk organic δ13C, δ15N, and Corg:Ntot ratios to estimate subsidence during the 1964 great Alaska earthquake
Science and Products
Geologic Inputs for the 2023 Alaska Update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM)
Alaska Fault Trace Mapping, 2021
Airborne Lidar-based Digital Elevation Models of Coastal Montague Island (Alaska) Acquired September 2018
Fortymile River Cosmogenic Isotope and Luminescence Data Collected 2016-2019
Digital Elevation Models of Glacier Bay National Park, Between Lituya Bay and Icy Point, Alaska, Derived from Airborne Lidar Data Acquired in September 2015
Eastern Denali Fault Surface Trace Map, Eastern Alaska and Adjacent Canada, 1978-2008
The 30 November 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage Earthquake
Pace and process of active folding and fluvial incision across the Kantishna Hills anticline, central Alaska
Ongoing bedrock incision of the Fortymile River driven by Pliocene–Pleistocene Yukon River capture, eastern Alaska, USA, and Yukon, Canada
Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Eastern Denali Fault surface trace map, eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada
The Peters Hills basin, a Neogene wedge-top basin on the Broad Pass thrust fault, south-central Alaska
Differential uplift and incision of the Yakima River terraces, central Washington State
Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust
Testing the use of bulk organic δ13C, δ15N, and Corg:Ntot ratios to estimate subsidence during the 1964 great Alaska earthquake
*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