Jonathan P Perkins
Jon is a Research Geologist specializing in landslides, sediment transport, and landscape evolution.
Jon got his Ph.D. in 2015 from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he worked on the tectonic, magmatic, and geomorphic processes that shape the landscape of the Central Andes. In 2007 he graduated with a B.S. in Geosciences from San Francisco State University, and spent the next two years working at the Cosmochemistry Laboratory at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Lab. He came to the USGS in 2016 as a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow to investigate the linkages between glacial sedimentology, groundwater flow, and slope stability in northwest Washington State.
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., University of California, 2015
B.S., San Francisco State University (Geosciences), 2007
Science and Products
Using integrated growth to delineate debris-flow inundation
Debris-flow volume is fundamental to mobility, yet many debris flows change volume as they travel. Growth can occur through diverse processes such as channel-bed entrainment, bank failures, aggregation of landslides, and coalescence of multiple flows. Integrating growth, either over upslope area or stream length, combines the effects of these growth processes and requires specification of only the
Authors
Mark E. Reid, Dianne L. Brien, Collin Cronkite-Ratcliff, Jonathan P. Perkins
Inversions of landslide strength as a proxy for subsurface weathering
Distributions of landslide size are hypothesized to reflect hillslope strength, and consequently weathering patterns. However, the association of weathering and critical zone architecture with mechanical strength properties of parent rock and soil are poorly-constrained. Here we use three-dimensional stability to analyze 7330 landslides in western Oregon to infer combinations of strength - frictio
Authors
Stefano Alberti, Ben Leshchinksy, Joshua J. Roering, Jonathan P. Perkins, Michael Olsen
Multi-stage soil-hydraulic recovery and limited ravel accumulations following the 2017 Nuns and Tubbs wildfires in Northern California
Wildfire can impact soil-hydraulic properties by reducing saturated hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity, making recently burned landscapes prone to debris flows and flash floods. The post-fire hazard window can range from years to decades. In Northern California, where wildfire frequency is steadily increasing, the impact and soil-hydraulic recovery from wildfires is unknown. Following the Octob
Authors
Jonathan P. Perkins, Carlos Diaz, Skye C. Corbett, Corina Cerovski-Darriau, Jonathan D. Stock, Jeffrey Paul Prancevic, Lisa Micheli, Jay Jasperse
Unsaturated flow processes and the onset of seasonal deformation in slow-moving landslides
Predicting rainfall-induced landslide motion is challenging because shallow groundwater flow is extremely sensitive to the preexisting moisture content in the ground. Here, we use groundwater hydrology theory and numerical modeling combined with five years of field monitoring to illustrate how unsaturated groundwater flow processes modulate the seasonal pore water pressure rise and therefore the o
Authors
Noah J. Finnegan, Jonathan P. Perkins, Alexander Lewis Nereson, Alexander L. Handwerger
Toward an integrative geological and geophysical view of Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes
The Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) is an exceptional geologic environment for recording evidence of land level changes, tsunamis, and ground motion that reveals at least 19 great megathrust earthquakes over the past 10 kyr. Such earthquakes are among the most impactful natural hazards on Earth, transcend national boundaries, and can have global impact. Reducing the societal impacts of future event
Authors
Maureen A. L. Walton, Lydia M. Staisch, Tina Dura, Jessie K. Pearl, Brian Sherrod, Joan S. Gomberg, Simon E. Engelhart, Anne Trehu, Janet Watt, Jonathan P. Perkins, Robert C. Witter, Noel Bartlow, Chris Goldfinger, Harvey Kelsey, Ann Morey, Valerie J. Sahakian, Harold Tobin, Kelin Wang, Ray Wells, Erin Wirth
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Core Preparation and Analysis Laboratory and Sample Repositories, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization, Subduction Zone Science
Linking mesoscale meteorology with extreme landscape response: Effects of narrow cold frontal rainbands (NCFR)
Landscapes evolve in response to prolonged and/or intense precipitation resulting from atmospheric processes at various spatial and temporal scales. Whereas synoptic (large‐scale) features (e.g., atmospheric rivers and hurricanes) govern regional‐scale hydrologic hazards such as widespread flooding, mesoscale features such as thunderstorms or squall lines are more likely to trigger localized geomo
Authors
Brian D. Collins, N. S. Oakley, Jonathan P. Perkins, Amy E. East, Skye C. Corbett, Benjamin J. Hatchett
Controls on eolian landscape evolution in fractured bedrock
Wind abrasion is important for planetary landscape evolution, and wind‐abraded bedrock landscapes contain many landforms that are difficult to interpret. Here we exploit a natural experiment in Chile where topographic shielding by an upwind lava flow yields diverse erosional landforms in a downwind ignimbrite. Using a 3‐D topographic wind model, we find that low velocities in the wake of a lava lo
Authors
Jonathan P. Perkins, Noah J. Finnegan, Shanaka L. de Silva, Michael J. Willis
Hunting for landslides from Cascadia's great earthquakes
No abstract available.
Authors
Jonathan P. Perkins, Joshua J. Roering, William J. Burns, William Strubel, Bryan A. Black, Kevin Schmidt, Alison Duvall, Nancy C. Calhoun
Control of landslide volume and hazard by glacial stratigraphic architecture, Northwest Washington state, USA
Landslide volumes span many orders of magnitude, but large-volume slides tend to travel
farther and consequently can pose a greater hazard. In northwest Washington State, USA, a
landscape abounding with landslides big and small, the recent occurrence of the large-volume
and tragically deadly State Route 530 (Oso) landslide is a stark reminder of the hazards
associated with glacial terraces lining
Authors
Jonathan Perkins, Mark E. Reid, Kevin M. Schmidt
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Landslide Hazards Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, National Laboratories Program, Science and Decisions Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Non-USGS Publications**
M.E. Pritchard, S.L. de Silva, G. Michelfelder, G. Zandt, S.R. McNutt, J. Gottsmann, M.E. West, J. Blundy, D.H. Christensen, N.J. Finnegan, E. Minaya, R.S.J. Sparks, M. Sunagua, M.J. Unsworth, C. Alvizuri, M.J. Comeau, R. del Potro, D. Díaz, M. Diez, A. Farrell, S.T. Henderson, J.A. Jay, T. Lopez, D. Legrand, J.A. Naranjo, H. McFarlin, D. Muir, J.P. Perkins, Z. Spica, A. Wilder, K.M. Ward; Synthesis: PLUTONS: Investigating the relationship between pluton growth and volcanism in the Central Andes. Geosphere doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01578.1
Perkins, J. P., Ward, K. M., De Silva, S. L., Zandt, G., Beck, S. L., & Finnegan, N. J. (2016). Surface uplift in the Central Andes driven by growth of the Altiplano Puna Magma Body. Nature Communications, 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13185
Perkins, J. P., Finnegan, N. J., Henderson, S. T., & Rittenour, T. M. (2016). Topographic constraints on magma accumulation below the actively uplifting Uturuncu and Lazufre volcanic centers in the Central Andes. Geosphere, 12(4), 1078–1096. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01278.1
Perkins, J. P., Finnegan, N. J., & De Silva, S. L. (2015). Amplification of bedrock canyon incision by wind. Nature Geoscience, 8(4), 305–310. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2381
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Below are science projects related to Jon's work
Margin-wide geological and geophysical synthesis to understand the recurrence and hazards of great subduction zone earthquakes in Cascadia
The Cascadia Subduction Zone, located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and southwestern British Columbia, has hosted magnitude ≥8.0 megathrust earthquakes in the geologic past, a future earthquake is imminent, and the potential impacts could cripple the region. Subduction zone earthquakes represent some of the most devastating natural hazards on Earth. Despite substantial knowledge gained from deca
Landslides triggered by the February 2019 atmospheric river storm, western Riverside County, California, USA
On February 14th, 2019, a strong atmospheric river storm (AR4 on the Atmospheric River scale of Ralph et al., 2019) struck California. The heavy rainfall caused landslides in both northern and southern California (Hatchett et al., 2020). This data release includes two subsets of mapped shallow landslide source locations in the vicinity of western Riverside County, California, where sufficient post
Landslides triggered by the January 10th, 2005 storm in the vicinity of La Conchita, Ventura County, California, USA
The area surrounding La Conchita, California (CA), USA experienced significant landslides and debris flows following a storm on January 10th, 2005, including a deadly deep-seated landslide that destroyed 13 houses and caused 10 fatalities (Jibson, 2006). This data release documents the locations of shallow landslide source locations in the vicinity of the deadly 2005 La Conchita landslide. Landsli
San Francisco Bay Area Reconnaissance Landslide Inventory, January 2023
From late December 2022 to January 2023, a series of atmospheric river storms produced widespread landsliding in the San Francisco Bay area of California. USGS scientists performed reconnaissance field work to document the extent of landsliding in the region and compiled reports of landslides from media and California Highway Patrol (CHP) reports. This data release documents locations of road cut
Modified basal contact of the Tertiary Lares Limestone in the vicinity of Utuado, Puerto Rico, USA, derived from USGS Open-File Report 98-038
This dataset comprises a vector shapefile of the Puerto Rico geologic map from Bawiec et al. (1999), clipped to study areas in the Lares, Utuado, and Naranjito municipalities, with a modified basal contact of the Tertiary Lares Limestone (Tla) re-mapped using a lidar-derived digital elevation model (DEM) (USGS, 2018). The limestone unit of interest forms a prominent break in slope with the underly
Field-saturated hydraulic conductivity time series and sediment accumulations following the 2017 Nuns and Tubbs wildfires, Napa and Sonoma Counties, CA, USA
This dataset comprises repeat surveys of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity following the October 2017 Nuns and Tubbs wildfires as part of an effort to document soil-hydraulic recovery. A summary table includes associated physiographic properties for each site, including: pre-burn vegetation, lithology, soil burn severity, location, soil texture, and associated van Genuchten par
Field, geotechnical, and meteorological data of the 22 March 2018 narrow cold frontal rainband (NCFR) and its effects, Tuolumne River canyon, Sierra Nevada Foothills, California
This data release includes information used to support the manuscript "Linking mesoscale meteorology with extreme landscape response: effects of narrow cold frontal rainbands (NCFR)". The included datasets and supplement include information related to the 22 March 2018 NCFR and associated shallow landslides in the Toulumne Canyon triggered by this event. The three datasets and one supplemental inf
Field observations of ground failure triggered by the 2020 Puerto Rico earthquake sequence
This dataset consists of over 800 field observations of ground failure (landslides, lateral spreading, and liquefaction) and other damage triggered by the 2019-2020 Puerto Rico earthquake sequence. The sequence started with a M4.7 earthquake on 28 December 2019, followed by many more earthquakes, including 15 larger than M5 (as of 7 July 2020). The M6.4 mainshock, which is thought to have triggere
Science and Products
Using integrated growth to delineate debris-flow inundation
Debris-flow volume is fundamental to mobility, yet many debris flows change volume as they travel. Growth can occur through diverse processes such as channel-bed entrainment, bank failures, aggregation of landslides, and coalescence of multiple flows. Integrating growth, either over upslope area or stream length, combines the effects of these growth processes and requires specification of only the
Authors
Mark E. Reid, Dianne L. Brien, Collin Cronkite-Ratcliff, Jonathan P. Perkins
Inversions of landslide strength as a proxy for subsurface weathering
Distributions of landslide size are hypothesized to reflect hillslope strength, and consequently weathering patterns. However, the association of weathering and critical zone architecture with mechanical strength properties of parent rock and soil are poorly-constrained. Here we use three-dimensional stability to analyze 7330 landslides in western Oregon to infer combinations of strength - frictio
Authors
Stefano Alberti, Ben Leshchinksy, Joshua J. Roering, Jonathan P. Perkins, Michael Olsen
Multi-stage soil-hydraulic recovery and limited ravel accumulations following the 2017 Nuns and Tubbs wildfires in Northern California
Wildfire can impact soil-hydraulic properties by reducing saturated hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity, making recently burned landscapes prone to debris flows and flash floods. The post-fire hazard window can range from years to decades. In Northern California, where wildfire frequency is steadily increasing, the impact and soil-hydraulic recovery from wildfires is unknown. Following the Octob
Authors
Jonathan P. Perkins, Carlos Diaz, Skye C. Corbett, Corina Cerovski-Darriau, Jonathan D. Stock, Jeffrey Paul Prancevic, Lisa Micheli, Jay Jasperse
Unsaturated flow processes and the onset of seasonal deformation in slow-moving landslides
Predicting rainfall-induced landslide motion is challenging because shallow groundwater flow is extremely sensitive to the preexisting moisture content in the ground. Here, we use groundwater hydrology theory and numerical modeling combined with five years of field monitoring to illustrate how unsaturated groundwater flow processes modulate the seasonal pore water pressure rise and therefore the o
Authors
Noah J. Finnegan, Jonathan P. Perkins, Alexander Lewis Nereson, Alexander L. Handwerger
Toward an integrative geological and geophysical view of Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes
The Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ) is an exceptional geologic environment for recording evidence of land level changes, tsunamis, and ground motion that reveals at least 19 great megathrust earthquakes over the past 10 kyr. Such earthquakes are among the most impactful natural hazards on Earth, transcend national boundaries, and can have global impact. Reducing the societal impacts of future event
Authors
Maureen A. L. Walton, Lydia M. Staisch, Tina Dura, Jessie K. Pearl, Brian Sherrod, Joan S. Gomberg, Simon E. Engelhart, Anne Trehu, Janet Watt, Jonathan P. Perkins, Robert C. Witter, Noel Bartlow, Chris Goldfinger, Harvey Kelsey, Ann Morey, Valerie J. Sahakian, Harold Tobin, Kelin Wang, Ray Wells, Erin Wirth
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Core Preparation and Analysis Laboratory and Sample Repositories, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization, Subduction Zone Science
Linking mesoscale meteorology with extreme landscape response: Effects of narrow cold frontal rainbands (NCFR)
Landscapes evolve in response to prolonged and/or intense precipitation resulting from atmospheric processes at various spatial and temporal scales. Whereas synoptic (large‐scale) features (e.g., atmospheric rivers and hurricanes) govern regional‐scale hydrologic hazards such as widespread flooding, mesoscale features such as thunderstorms or squall lines are more likely to trigger localized geomo
Authors
Brian D. Collins, N. S. Oakley, Jonathan P. Perkins, Amy E. East, Skye C. Corbett, Benjamin J. Hatchett
Controls on eolian landscape evolution in fractured bedrock
Wind abrasion is important for planetary landscape evolution, and wind‐abraded bedrock landscapes contain many landforms that are difficult to interpret. Here we exploit a natural experiment in Chile where topographic shielding by an upwind lava flow yields diverse erosional landforms in a downwind ignimbrite. Using a 3‐D topographic wind model, we find that low velocities in the wake of a lava lo
Authors
Jonathan P. Perkins, Noah J. Finnegan, Shanaka L. de Silva, Michael J. Willis
Hunting for landslides from Cascadia's great earthquakes
No abstract available.
Authors
Jonathan P. Perkins, Joshua J. Roering, William J. Burns, William Strubel, Bryan A. Black, Kevin Schmidt, Alison Duvall, Nancy C. Calhoun
Control of landslide volume and hazard by glacial stratigraphic architecture, Northwest Washington state, USA
Landslide volumes span many orders of magnitude, but large-volume slides tend to travel
farther and consequently can pose a greater hazard. In northwest Washington State, USA, a
landscape abounding with landslides big and small, the recent occurrence of the large-volume
and tragically deadly State Route 530 (Oso) landslide is a stark reminder of the hazards
associated with glacial terraces lining
Authors
Jonathan Perkins, Mark E. Reid, Kevin M. Schmidt
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Landslide Hazards Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, National Laboratories Program, Science and Decisions Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Non-USGS Publications**
M.E. Pritchard, S.L. de Silva, G. Michelfelder, G. Zandt, S.R. McNutt, J. Gottsmann, M.E. West, J. Blundy, D.H. Christensen, N.J. Finnegan, E. Minaya, R.S.J. Sparks, M. Sunagua, M.J. Unsworth, C. Alvizuri, M.J. Comeau, R. del Potro, D. Díaz, M. Diez, A. Farrell, S.T. Henderson, J.A. Jay, T. Lopez, D. Legrand, J.A. Naranjo, H. McFarlin, D. Muir, J.P. Perkins, Z. Spica, A. Wilder, K.M. Ward; Synthesis: PLUTONS: Investigating the relationship between pluton growth and volcanism in the Central Andes. Geosphere doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01578.1
Perkins, J. P., Ward, K. M., De Silva, S. L., Zandt, G., Beck, S. L., & Finnegan, N. J. (2016). Surface uplift in the Central Andes driven by growth of the Altiplano Puna Magma Body. Nature Communications, 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13185
Perkins, J. P., Finnegan, N. J., Henderson, S. T., & Rittenour, T. M. (2016). Topographic constraints on magma accumulation below the actively uplifting Uturuncu and Lazufre volcanic centers in the Central Andes. Geosphere, 12(4), 1078–1096. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01278.1
Perkins, J. P., Finnegan, N. J., & De Silva, S. L. (2015). Amplification of bedrock canyon incision by wind. Nature Geoscience, 8(4), 305–310. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2381
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Below are science projects related to Jon's work
Margin-wide geological and geophysical synthesis to understand the recurrence and hazards of great subduction zone earthquakes in Cascadia
The Cascadia Subduction Zone, located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and southwestern British Columbia, has hosted magnitude ≥8.0 megathrust earthquakes in the geologic past, a future earthquake is imminent, and the potential impacts could cripple the region. Subduction zone earthquakes represent some of the most devastating natural hazards on Earth. Despite substantial knowledge gained from deca
Landslides triggered by the February 2019 atmospheric river storm, western Riverside County, California, USA
On February 14th, 2019, a strong atmospheric river storm (AR4 on the Atmospheric River scale of Ralph et al., 2019) struck California. The heavy rainfall caused landslides in both northern and southern California (Hatchett et al., 2020). This data release includes two subsets of mapped shallow landslide source locations in the vicinity of western Riverside County, California, where sufficient post
Landslides triggered by the January 10th, 2005 storm in the vicinity of La Conchita, Ventura County, California, USA
The area surrounding La Conchita, California (CA), USA experienced significant landslides and debris flows following a storm on January 10th, 2005, including a deadly deep-seated landslide that destroyed 13 houses and caused 10 fatalities (Jibson, 2006). This data release documents the locations of shallow landslide source locations in the vicinity of the deadly 2005 La Conchita landslide. Landsli
San Francisco Bay Area Reconnaissance Landslide Inventory, January 2023
From late December 2022 to January 2023, a series of atmospheric river storms produced widespread landsliding in the San Francisco Bay area of California. USGS scientists performed reconnaissance field work to document the extent of landsliding in the region and compiled reports of landslides from media and California Highway Patrol (CHP) reports. This data release documents locations of road cut
Modified basal contact of the Tertiary Lares Limestone in the vicinity of Utuado, Puerto Rico, USA, derived from USGS Open-File Report 98-038
This dataset comprises a vector shapefile of the Puerto Rico geologic map from Bawiec et al. (1999), clipped to study areas in the Lares, Utuado, and Naranjito municipalities, with a modified basal contact of the Tertiary Lares Limestone (Tla) re-mapped using a lidar-derived digital elevation model (DEM) (USGS, 2018). The limestone unit of interest forms a prominent break in slope with the underly
Field-saturated hydraulic conductivity time series and sediment accumulations following the 2017 Nuns and Tubbs wildfires, Napa and Sonoma Counties, CA, USA
This dataset comprises repeat surveys of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity following the October 2017 Nuns and Tubbs wildfires as part of an effort to document soil-hydraulic recovery. A summary table includes associated physiographic properties for each site, including: pre-burn vegetation, lithology, soil burn severity, location, soil texture, and associated van Genuchten par
Field, geotechnical, and meteorological data of the 22 March 2018 narrow cold frontal rainband (NCFR) and its effects, Tuolumne River canyon, Sierra Nevada Foothills, California
This data release includes information used to support the manuscript "Linking mesoscale meteorology with extreme landscape response: effects of narrow cold frontal rainbands (NCFR)". The included datasets and supplement include information related to the 22 March 2018 NCFR and associated shallow landslides in the Toulumne Canyon triggered by this event. The three datasets and one supplemental inf
Field observations of ground failure triggered by the 2020 Puerto Rico earthquake sequence
This dataset consists of over 800 field observations of ground failure (landslides, lateral spreading, and liquefaction) and other damage triggered by the 2019-2020 Puerto Rico earthquake sequence. The sequence started with a M4.7 earthquake on 28 December 2019, followed by many more earthquakes, including 15 larger than M5 (as of 7 July 2020). The M6.4 mainshock, which is thought to have triggere