Reitman, N.G. and P. Molnar (2021) Strain and velocity across the Great Basin derived from 15-ka fault slip rates: Implications for continuous deformation and seismic hazards in the Walker Lane, California-Nevada, USA. Tectonics. doi: 10.1029/2020TC006389
Nadine G Reitman, PhD (she/her)
As an earthquake geologist, I use numerical modeling, field observations, and quantitative analysis of remotely sensed data to investigate earthquake history of active faults and how earthquake history is recorded in a landscape. This work informs seismic hazard models and future risk.
Biography
Professional Experience
- Research Geologist, USGS, 2020-Present
- Geologist, USGS, 2014-2016
- Physical Science Technician, Denali National Park, 2010, 2011, 2013
Education
- PhD, University of Colorado Boulder, 2016-2020
- MS, University of Colorado Boulder, 2011-2013
- BA, Vassar College, 2006-2010
I co-led the USGS-Hazards Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) pod and am invovled with ongoing JEDI/DEIA efforts at the GHSC and USGS. Please email me to chat more about unlearning racism in geoscience, the URGE program, and ongoing efforts.
Science and Products
Date published: February 1, 2015
Status: Completed How Big and How Frequent Are Earthquakes on the Wasatch Fault?
Release Date: FEBRUARY 1, 2015
Paleoseismology along the Wasatch Fault in Utah is helping to estimate the shaking risk to nearby towns.
Year Published: 2020
The influence of frost weathering on the debris flow sediment supply in an alpine basin
Rocky, alpine mountains are prone to mass wasting from debris flows. The Chalk Cliffs study area (central Colorado, USA) produces debris flows annually. These debris flows are triggered when overland flow driven by intense summer convective storms mobilizes large volumes of sediment within the channel network. Understanding the debris flow...
Rengers, Francis K.; Kean, Jason W.; Reitman, Nadine G.; Smith, Joel B.; Coe, Jeffrey A.; McGuire, Luke
Year Published: 2020
Holocene rupture history of the central Teton fault at Leigh Lake; Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Prominent scarps on Pinedale glacial surfaces along the eastern base of the Teton Range confirm latest Pleistocene to Holocene surface‐faulting earthquakes on the Teton fault, but the timing of these events is only broadly constrained by a single previous paleoseismic study. We excavated two trenches at the Leigh Lake site near the center of the...
Zellman, Mark; Duross, Christopher; Thackray, Glenn R.; Personius, Stephen; Reitman, Nadine G.; Mahan, Shannon A.; Brossy, Cooper
Year Published: 2019
Offset channels may not accurately record strike-slip fault displacement: Evidence from landscape evolution models
Slip distribution, slip rate, and slip per event for strike‐slip faults are commonly determined by correlating offset stream channels—under the assumption that they record seismic slip—but offset channels are formed by the interplay of tectonic and geomorphic processes. To constrain offset channel development under known tectonic and geomorphic...
Reitman, Nadine G.; Mueller, Karl J.; Tucker, Gregory E.; Gold, Ryan D.; Briggs, Richard W.; Barnhart, Katherine R.
Year Published: 2019
Variable normal-fault rupture behavior, northern Lost River fault zone, Idaho, USA
The 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake generated ∼36 km of surface rupture along the Thousand Springs and Warm Springs sections of the Lost River fault zone (LRFZ, Idaho, USA). Although the rupture is a well-studied example of multisegment surface faulting, ambiguity remains regarding the degree to which a bedrock ridge and branch fault at the...
Duross, Christopher; Bunds, Michael P.; Gold, Ryan D.; Briggs, Richard W.; Reitman, Nadine G.; Personius, Stephen; Toké, Nathan A.
Year Published: 2018
Paleoseismic results from the Alpine site, Wasatch fault zone: Timing and displacement data for six holocene earthquakes at the Salt Lake City–Provo segment boundary
To improve the characterization of Holocene earthquakes on the Wasatch fault zone (WFZ), we conducted light detection and ranging (lidar)‐based neotectonic mapping and excavated a paleoseismic trench across an 8‐m‐high fault scarp near Alpine, Utah, located <1  km"><1 km<1 km south of the boundary...
Bennett, Scott E. K.; Duross, Christopher; Gold, Ryan D.; Briggs, Richard W.; Personius, Stephen; Reitman, Nadine G.; Devore, Joshua; Hiscock, Adam; Mahan, Shannon A.; Gray, Harrison J.; Gunnarson, Sydney; Stephenson, William J.; Pettinger, Elizabeth; Odum, Jackson K.
Year Published: 2018
Combining conflicting Bayesian models to develop paleoseismic records—An example from the Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah
Bayesian statistical analyses of paleoseismic data result in the probabilistic determination of earthquake times using geochronological data evaluated in the context of a stratigraphic model. However, a fundamental problem in paleoseismology is how to use the Bayesian approach to model sparse and/or conflicting geochronological datasets, such as...
Duross, Christopher; Bennett, Scott E. K.; Briggs, Richard W.; Personius, Stephen; Gold, Ryan D.; Reitman, Nadine G.; Hiscock, Adam I.; Mahan, Shannon A.
Year Published: 2017
P- and S-wave velocity models incorporating the Cascadia subduction zone for 3D earthquake ground motion simulations, Version 1.6—Update for Open-File Report 2007–1348
In support of earthquake hazard studies and ground motion simulations in the Pacific Northwest, three-dimensional P- and S-wave velocity (VP and VS, respectively) models incorporating the Cascadia subduction zone were previously developed for the region encompassed from about 40.2°N. to 50°N. latitude, and from about 122°W. to 129°W. longitude....
Stephenson, William J.; Reitman, Nadine G.; Angster, Stephen J.Attribution: Natural Hazards, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Natural Hazards, Earthquake Hazards Program, Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin, Oregon, Washington, United States of America, Canada, Subduction Zone Science
View Citation
Stephenson, W.J., Reitman, N.G., and Angster, S.J., 2017, P- and S-wave velocity models incorporating the Cascadia subduction zone for 3D earthquake ground motion simulations, version 1.6—Update for Open-File Report 2007–1348 (ver. 1.1, Sept. 10, 2019): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1152, 17 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171152. [Supersedes USGS Open-File Report 2007–1348.]
Year Published: 2017
Recurrent Holocene movement on the Susitna Glacier Thrust Fault: The structure that initiated the Mw 7.9 Denali Fault earthquake, central Alaska
We conducted a trench investigation and analyzed pre‐ and postearthquake topography to determine the timing and size of prehistoric surface ruptures on the Susitna Glacier fault (SGF), the thrust fault that initiated the 2002 Mw 7.9 Denali fault earthquake sequence in central Alaska. In two of our three hand‐excavated trenches, we found...
Personius, Stephen; Crone, Anthony J.; Burns, Patricia A.; Reitman, Nadine G.Attribution: Natural Hazards, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Natural Hazards, Earthquake Hazards Program, , Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin, Alaska, United States of America
View Citation
Personius, Stephen F., Crone, Anthony J., Burns, Patricia A., and Reitman, Nadine G., 2017, Recurrent Holocene Movement on the Susitna Glacier Thrust Fault: The Structure that Initiated the Mw 7.9 Denali Fault Earthquake, Central Alaska: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 107, No. 4, pp. 1593–1609, August 2017, doi: 10.1785/0120160286
Year Published: 2017
Holocene earthquakes of magnitude 7 during westward escape of the Olympic Mountains, Washington
The Lake Creek–Boundary Creek fault, previously mapped in Miocene bedrock as an oblique thrust on the north flank of the Olympic Mountains, poses a significant earthquake hazard. Mapping using 2015 light detection and ranging (lidar) confirms 2004 lidar mapping of postglacial (<13  ka"><13 ka) and Holocene fault...
Nelson, Alan R.; Personius, Stephen; Wells, Ray; Schermer, Elizabeth R.; Bradley, Lee-Ann; Buck, Jason; Reitman, Nadine G.
Year Published: 2015
On- and off-fault deformation associated with the September 2013 Mw7.7 Balochistan earthquake: Implications for geologic slip rate measurements
The 24 September 2013 Mw7.7 Balochistan, Pakistan earthquake ruptured a ~ 200 km-long stretch of the Hoshab fault in southern Pakistan and produced the second-largest lateral surface displacement observed for a continental strike-slip earthquake. We remotely measured surface deformation associated with this event using high-resolution (0...
Gold, Ryan D.; Reitman, Nadine G.; Briggs, Richard W.; Barnhart, William D.; Hayes, Gavin P.; Wilson, Earl M.
Year Published: 2015
Evidence for slip partitioning and bimodal slip behavior on a single fault: Surface slip characteristics of the 2013 Mw7.7 Balochistan, Pakistan earthquake
Deformation is commonly accommodated by strain partitioning on multiple, independent strike-slip and dip-slip faults in continental settings of oblique plate convergence. As a corollary, individual faults tend to exhibit one sense of slip – normal, reverse, or strike-slip – until whole-scale changes in boundary conditions reactivate preexisting...
Barnhart, William D.; Briggs, Richard W.; Reitman, Nadine G.; Gold, Ryan D.; Hayes, Gavin P.Attribution: Natural Hazards, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Natural Hazards, Earthquake Hazards Program, , Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin, Pakistan
View Citation
W.D. Barnhart, R.W. Briggs, N.G. Reitman, R.D. Gold, G.P. Hayes, Evidence for slip partitioning and bimodal slip behavior on a single fault: Surface slip characteristics of the 2013 Mw7.7 Balochistan, Pakistan earthquake, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 420, 2015, Pages 1-11, ISSN 0012-821X
Year Published: 2015
High‐resolution trench photomosaics from image‐based modeling: Workflow and error analysis
Photomosaics are commonly used to construct maps of paleoseismic trench exposures, but the conventional process of manually using image‐editing software is time consuming and produces undesirable artifacts and distortions. Herein, we document and evaluate the application of image‐based modeling (IBM) for creating photomosaics and 3D models of...
Reitman, Nadine G.; Bennett, Scott E. K.; Gold, Ryan D.; Briggs, Richard W.; Duross, ChristopherAttribution: Natural Hazards, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Natural Hazards, Earthquake Hazards Program, , Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin, United States of America
View Citation
Reitman, N.G., Bennett, S.E.K., Gold, R.D., Briggs, R.W., DuRoss, C.B., 2015. High-Resolution Trench Photomosaics from Image-Based Modeling: Workflow and Error Analysis. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 105, 2354–2366.
Pre-USGS Publications
Reitman, N.G. and P. Molnar (2020) Input parameters, output data, and script to calculate strain and velocity from fault source parameters. [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3895334
Reitman, N.G., K.J. Mueller, G.E. Tucker, R.D. Gold, R.W. Briggs, and K.R. Barnhart. (2019) Numerical model code and input files to run landscape evolution models with strike-slip faulting and measure channel offsets. [Data set]. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3374026
Litchfield, N.J., K.J. Clark, U.A. Cochran, J. Mountjoy, C. Mueller, R. Morgenstern, K.R. Berryman, B.G. McFadgen, R. Steele, N.G. Reitman, J. Howarth, and P. Villamor. (2020) Unraveling complex coastal deformation mechanisms using marine terrace paleoseismology Puatai Beach and Pakarae River mouth, northern Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. doi: 10.1785/0120190208
Reitman, N.G., Ge, S., and Mueller, K. (2014) Groundwater flow and its effect on salt dissolution in Gypsum Canyon watershed, Paradox Basin, southeast Utah, USA. Hydrogeology Journal, doi: 10.1007/s10040-014-1126-0.