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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

Filter Total Items: 19
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Filter Total Items: 27

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 M. Bender, Colin B. Amos, Paul R. Bierman, Dylan Rood, Lydia M. Staisch, Harvey M. Kelsey, Brian Sherrod
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Earthquake Science Center

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. A. Carver, Richard W. Briggs, Guy R. Gelfenbaum, R.D. Koehler, SeanPaul M. La Selle, Adrian M. Bender, S.E. Engelhart, E. Hemphill-Haley, Troy D. Hill
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Alaska Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Subduction Zone Science

Testing the use of bulk organic δ13C, δ15N, and Corg:Ntot ratios to estimate subsidence during the 1964 great Alaska earthquake Testing the use of bulk organic δ13C, δ15N, and Corg:Ntot ratios to estimate subsidence during the 1964 great Alaska earthquake

During the Mw 9.2 1964 great Alaska earthquake, Turnagain Arm near Girdwood, Alaska subsided 1.7 ± 0.1 m based on pre- and postearthquake leveling. The coseismic subsidence in 1964 caused equivalent sudden relative sea-level (RSL) rise that is stratigraphically preserved as mud-over-peat contacts where intertidal silt buried peaty marsh surfaces. Changes in intertidal microfossil...
Authors
Adrian M. Bender, Robert C. Witter, Matthew Rogers
By
Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Alaska Science Center

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 19
No Result Found
No results found.
Filter Total Items: 27

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 M. Bender, Colin B. Amos, Paul R. Bierman, Dylan Rood, Lydia M. Staisch, Harvey M. Kelsey, Brian Sherrod
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Earthquake Science Center

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. A. Carver, Richard W. Briggs, Guy R. Gelfenbaum, R.D. Koehler, SeanPaul M. La Selle, Adrian M. Bender, S.E. Engelhart, E. Hemphill-Haley, Troy D. Hill
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Alaska Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Subduction Zone Science

Testing the use of bulk organic δ13C, δ15N, and Corg:Ntot ratios to estimate subsidence during the 1964 great Alaska earthquake Testing the use of bulk organic δ13C, δ15N, and Corg:Ntot ratios to estimate subsidence during the 1964 great Alaska earthquake

During the Mw 9.2 1964 great Alaska earthquake, Turnagain Arm near Girdwood, Alaska subsided 1.7 ± 0.1 m based on pre- and postearthquake leveling. The coseismic subsidence in 1964 caused equivalent sudden relative sea-level (RSL) rise that is stratigraphically preserved as mud-over-peat contacts where intertidal silt buried peaty marsh surfaces. Changes in intertidal microfossil...
Authors
Adrian M. Bender, Robert C. Witter, Matthew Rogers
By
Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Alaska Science Center

*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

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