Jared Kluesner
I am a geophysicist that works with various geophysical tools and datasets, specializing in 2D and 3D seismic reflection. I received my Ph.D. at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and carried out my post-doc at the University of California Santa Cruz. I joined the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in the Spring of 2015.
Biography
My research focuses on the development and application of geophysical processing and imaging techniques. I specialize in 2D/3D seismic reflection data and other geophysical data types such as multibeam bathymetry/backscatter and chirp. One of my current research focuses is on the application of artificial neural-networks to 2D/3D seismic attribute calculations for enhanced detection and visualization of geologic features, such as faults, fluid-pathways, and mass transport deposits.
Science and Products
U.S. West Coast and Alaska Marine Geohazards
Marine geohazards are sudden and extreme events beneath the ocean that threaten coastal populations. Such underwater hazards include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and tsunamis.
Devastating earthquakes in Japan (2011) and Chile (2010) that spawned pan-oceanic tsunamis sent a sobering reminder that U.S. coastlines are also vulnerable to natural disasters that originate in...
Underwater Landslides off Southern California
An earthquake can trigger a landslide along the ocean floor, which can then set off a tsunami. Without modern, high-resolution imaging of the seafloor, many historical slides and threats from future slides remain undetected.
Minisparker and chirp seismic-reflection data of field activity 2014-645-FA; offshore Santa Barbara, southern California from 2014-11-12 to 2014-11-25
USGS collected high-resolution multichannel minisparker and single-channel chirp seismic-reflection data in November 2014, in the offshore Catalina and Santa Cruz basins, which are surrounded by several of the southern California Channel Islands. The survey was designed to image areas of the seafloor associated with movement on the numerous faults offshore of southern California.
Multichannel minisparker and chirp seismic reflection data of USGS field activity 2016-616-FA collected in the Catalina Basin offshore southern California in February 2016
This data release contains 25 multichannel minisparker seismic reflection (MCS) profiles and 41 chirp sub-bottom profiles collected in February of 2016 from the Catalina Basin offshore southern California by PCMSC in cooperation with the University of Washington. We collected data on R/V Thompson on USGS cruise 2016-616-FA. We collected MCS profiles to image the fault and channel...
Multichannel sparker seismic-reflection data of field activity 2016-656-FA; between Icy Point and Dixon Entrance, Gulf of Alaska from 2016-08-07 to 2016-08-26
This data release contains high-resolution multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection data collected in August of 2016 along the southeast Alaska continental margin. Structure perpendicular MCS profiles were collected along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault. The data were collected aboard the R/V Norseman using a Delta sparker sound source and recorded on a 64-channel digital streamer...
Multibeam and multichannel sparker seismic-reflection data between Cross Sound and Dixon Entrance, offshore southeastern Alaska, collected from 2016-05-17 to 2016-06-12 during field activity 2016-625-FA
Multibeam bathymetry and multichannel sparker seismic relfection data collected along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault between Icy Point and Dixon Entrance, offshore southeastern Alaska from 2016-05-17 to 2016-06-12.
Multibeam bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter data collected in 2016 in Catalina Basin, southern California and merged multibeam bathymetry datasets of the northern portion of the Southern California Continental Borderland
In February 2016 the University of Washington in cooperation with USGS PCMSC collected multibeam bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter data in and near the Catalina Basin, southern California aboard the University of Washington's Research Vessel Thomas G. Thompson. Data was collected using a hull-mounted Kongsberg EM300 multibeam...
Multichannel minisparker and chirp seismic-reflection data of field activity 2015-651-FA; Chatham Strait and Cross Sound, southeastern Alaska from 2015-08-03 to 2015-08-21
High-resolution multichannel minisparker and chirp seismic-reflection data were collected in August of 2015 to explore marine geologic hazards of inland waterways of southeastern Alaska. Sub-bottom profiles were acquired in the inland waters between Glacier Bay and Juneau, including Cross Sound and Chatham Strait.
Processed, high-resolution, chirp seismic-reflection data collected in San Pablo Bay (northern California) during field activity 2014-639-FA from 10/06/2014 to 10/10/2014
This dataset includes processed, high-resolution chirp seismic-reflection data collected in 2014 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in San Pablo Bay, northern California.
In‐situ mass balance estimates offshore Costa Rica
The Costa Rican convergent margin has been considered a type erosive margin, with erosional models suggesting average losses up to −153 km3/km/m.y. However, three‐dimensional (3D) seismic reflection and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program data collected offshore the Osa Peninsula images accretionary structures and vertical motions that conflict...
Edwards, Joel; Kluesner, Jared; Silver, Eli; Lauer, Rachel; Bangs, Nathan; Boston, Brian Focused fluid flow and methane venting along the Queen Charlotte fault, offshore Alaska (USA) and British Columbia (Canada)
Fluid seepage along obliquely deforming plate boundaries can be an important indicator of crustal permeability and influence on fault-zone mechanics and hydrocarbon migration. The ~850-km-long Queen Charlotte fault (QCF) is the dominant structure along the right-lateral transform boundary that separates the Pacific and North American tectonic...
Prouty, Nancy G.; Brothers, Daniel; Kluesner, Jared; Barrie, J. Vaughn; Andrews, Brian D.; Lauer, Rachel; Greene, Gary; Conrad, James E.; Lorenson, Thomas; Law, Michael D.; Sahy, Diana; Conway, Kim; McGann, Mary; Dartnell, Peter Morphology, structure, and kinematics of the San Clemente and Catalina faults based on high-resolution marine geophysical data, southern California Inner Continental Borderland
Catalina Basin, located within the southern California Inner Continental Borderland (ICB), is traversed by two active submerged fault systems that are part of the broader North America-Pacific plate boundary: the San Clemente fault (along with a prominent splay, the Kimki fault) and the Catalina fault. Previous studies have suggested that the San...
Walton, Maureen A. L.; Brothers, Daniel; Conrad, James E.; Maier, Katherine L.; Roland, Emily C.; Kluesner, Jared; Dartnell, Peter Structural controls on slope failure within the western Santa Barbara Channel based on 2D and 3D seismic imaging
The Santa Barbara Channel, offshore California, contains several submarine landslides and ample evidence for incipient failure. This region hosts active thrust and reverse faults that accommodate several mm/yr of convergence, yet the relationships between tectonic deformation and slope failure remain unclear. We present 3‐D and 2‐D multichannel...
Kluesner, Jared; Brothers, Daniel; Wright, Alexis L; Johnson, Samuel Submarine canyons, slope failures and mass transport processes in southern Cascadia
The marine turbidite record along the southern Cascadia Subduction Zone has been used to interpret paleoseismicity and suggest a shorter recurrence interval for large (>M7) earthquakes along this portion of the margin; however, the sources and pathways of these turbidity flows are poorly constrained. We examine the spatial distribution of...
Hill, Jenna C.; Watt, Janet; Brothers, Daniel; Kluesner, Jared Subduction megathrust heterogeneity characterized from 3D seismic data
Megathrust roughness and structural complexity are thought to be controls on earthquake slip at subduction zones because they result in heterogeneity in shear strength and resolved stress. However, because active megathrust faults are difficult to observe, the causes and scales of complexity are largely unknown. Here we measured the in situ...
Kirkpatrick, James D.; Edwards, Joel H.; Verdecchia, Alessandro; Kluesner, Jared; Harrington, Rebecca M.; Silver, Eli The Santa Cruz Basin submarine landslide complex, southern California: Repeated failure of uplifted basin sediment
The Santa Cruz Basin (SCB) is one of several fault-bounded basins within the California Continental Borderland that has drawn interest over the years for its role in the tectonic evolution of the region, but also because it contains a record of a variety of modes of sedimentary mass transport (i.e., open slope vs. canyon-confined systems). Here,...
Brothers, Daniel S.; Maier, Katherine L.; Kluesner, Jared W.; Conrad, James E.; Chaytor, Jason Slope failure and mass transport processes along the Queen Charlotte Fault, southeastern Alaska
The Queen Charlotte Fault defines the Pacific–North America transform plate boundary in western Canada and southeastern Alaska for c. 900 km. The entire length of the fault is submerged along a continental margin dominated by Quaternary glacial processes, yet the geomorphology along the margin has never been systematically examined due to the...
Brothers, Daniel; Andrews, Brian D.; Walton, Maureen A. L.; H. Gary Greene; J. Vaughn Barrie; Miller, Nathaniel C.; ten Brink, Uri S.; East, Amy E.; Haeussler, Peter J.; Kluesner, Jared W.; Conrad, James E. The tectonically controlled San Gabriel Channel–Lobe Transition Zone, Catalina Basin, Southern California Borderland
High-resolution geophysical data across the Catalina Basin, offshore southern California, USA, reveal a complex channel–lobe transition zone (CLTZ) and provide an opportunity to characterize an entire seafloor CLTZ in a tectonically active and confined-basin setting. The seafloor morphology, distribution of depositional and erosional features, and...
Maier, Katherine L.; Roland, Emily C.; Walton, Maureen A. L.; Conrad, James E.; Brothers, Daniel S.; Dartnell, Peter; Kluesner, Jared W. Practical approaches to maximizing the resolution of sparker seismic reflection data
Sparkers are a type of sound source widely used by the marine seismic community to provide high-resolution imagery of the shallow sub-bottom (i.e., < 1000 m). Although sparkers are relatively simple, inexpensive, and high-frequency (100–2500 Hz) sources, they have several potential pitfalls due to their complicated and...
Kluesner, Jared; Brothers, Daniel; Hart, Patrick E.; Miller, Nathaniel C.; Hatcher, Gerry Statistical approach to neural network imaging of karst systems in 3D seismic reflection data
The current lack of a robust, standardized technique for geophysical mapping of karst systems can be attributed to both the complexity of the environment and prior technological limitations. Abrupt lateral variations in physical properties that are inherent to karst systems generate significant geophysical noise, challenging conventional seismic...
Ebuna, Daniel; Kluesner, Jared W.; Cunningham, Kevin J.; Edwards, Joel H. Neotectonics of the Big Sur Bend, San Gregorio‐Hosgri fault system, central California
The right‐lateral San Gregorio‐Hosgri fault system (SGHF) extends mainly offshore for about 400 km along the central California coast and is a major structure in the distributed transform margin of western North America. We mapped a poorly known 64‐km‐long section of the SGHF offshore Big Sur between Piedras Blancas and Point Sur using high‐...
Johnson, Samuel Y.; Watt, Janet; Hartwell, Stephen; Kluesner, Jared
Giant grooves discovered on an earthquake fault offshore Costa Rica
Imagine dragging your outstretched fingers through wet beach sand, leaving long grooves behind. Scientists recently discovered enormous grooves buried under the seafloor near Costa Rica. The detailed three-dimensional data they used to uncover these corrugations can help them better understand large subduction zone earthquakes and related tsunamis worldwide.
Expedition along a Hazardous, Fast-Moving Fault off Southeast Alaska—the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault
USGS scientists hope to learn more about the earthquake hazards that this large, fast-moving fault poses to communities and tourists in Alaska and Canada.