Katherine Guns
Katherine Guns is a Research Geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Science Center in Moffett Field, CA. She uses satellite-based geodetic measurements like InSAR and GPS to investigate active faults as well as the crustal deformation processes that occur after large earthquakes.
Katherine started out studying earthquakes and faults through geological field mapping and working in labs to characterize how faults slip over long timescales (over the last ~2,000-50,000 years). In graduate school, she switched gears and dove into tectonic geodesy, where you can use satellite measurements to determine how the surface of the Earth is moving and changing in the present day. Now, she uses Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Global Positioning System (GPS) observations to explore earthquake and active fault deformation. One of her favorite topics is characterizing the processes that happen just after a large magnitude earthquake, and determining how those processes continue and evolve in time and space (and potentially cause additional hazard).
Professional Experience
2023 – present | Research Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey
2023 | Accepted Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow, U.S. Geological Survey
2020 – 2023 | Postdoctoral Scholar, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
Education and Certifications
2020 | Ph.D. in Geosciences, University of Arizona
Dissertation: “Exploring Long-term Earthquake Deformation in Southern California through Field-based Geologic and Space-based Geodetic methods”
2015 | B.A., with Honors, in Geology, University of California, Berkeley
Science and Products
Rupture process of the Mw7.0 December 5, 2024 Offshore Cape Mendocino earthquake Rupture process of the Mw7.0 December 5, 2024 Offshore Cape Mendocino earthquake
Exploring GPS observations of postseismic deformation following the 2012 MW7.8 Haida Gwaii and 2013 MW7.5 Craig, Alaska Earthquakes: Implications for viscoelastic Earth structure Exploring GPS observations of postseismic deformation following the 2012 MW7.8 Haida Gwaii and 2013 MW7.5 Craig, Alaska Earthquakes: Implications for viscoelastic Earth structure
Non-USGS Publications**
**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.
Science and Products
Rupture process of the Mw7.0 December 5, 2024 Offshore Cape Mendocino earthquake Rupture process of the Mw7.0 December 5, 2024 Offshore Cape Mendocino earthquake
Exploring GPS observations of postseismic deformation following the 2012 MW7.8 Haida Gwaii and 2013 MW7.5 Craig, Alaska Earthquakes: Implications for viscoelastic Earth structure Exploring GPS observations of postseismic deformation following the 2012 MW7.8 Haida Gwaii and 2013 MW7.5 Craig, Alaska Earthquakes: Implications for viscoelastic Earth structure
Non-USGS Publications**
**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.