Nathaniel C Miller, PhD
Nathan Miller is a Research Geophysicist with the Earthquake Hazards Project at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center.
Science and Products
Cascadia Subduction Zone Marine Geohazards
Societal Issue: Uncertainty related to rupture extent, slip distribution, and recurrence of past subduction megathrust earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest (northern CA, OR, WA, and southern BC) leads to ambiguity in earthquake and tsunami hazard assessments and hinders our ability to prepare for future events.
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, 3-D CT Core Imaging Laboratory, Core Preparation and Analysis Laboratory and Sample Repositories, Multi-Sensor Core Logger Laboratory, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization, Subduction Zone Science
The Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX)
In late August 2018, scientists and technical staff from the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program completed the acquisition of over 2000 km of multichannel seismic (MCS) data as part of the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) conducted aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. The seismic program was led by the USGS Gas Hydrates Project and was sponsored by the USGS, the U.S...
High-resolution multichannel sparker seismic-reflection and chirp sub-bottom data acquired along the Cascadia margin during USGS field activity 2019-024-FA
High-resolution multichannel sparker seismic (MCS) data and chirp sub-bottom data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the University of Washington (UW) in the summer of 2019 along the Cascadia submarine forearc offshore Oregon and Washington. Data were acquired to characterize quaternary deformation and sediment dynamics along the central and northern...
High-resolution multichannel seismic reflection data collected along the New England outer continental shelf, slope, and rise south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S. Geological Survey Field Activity 2016-018-FA
High resolution multichannel seismic-reflection data were collected along the New England outer continental shelf, slope, and rise south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts, aboard the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) research vessel Neil Armstrong on June 11 - 12, 2016 in order to characterize the stratigraphy of a portion of the New England continental margin...
Multichannel sparker and chirp seismic reflection data collected offshore South East Alaska during USGS Field Activity 2017-621-FA
High-resolution multichannel seismic reflection data and chirp sub-bottom data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in July and August 2017 offshore southeast Alaska to expand data coverage along the Queen Charlotte Fault system. Data were acquired to study earthquake hazards, fault mechanics and submarine mass wasting processes along the Queen Charlotte fault system, a 1200 km...
Split-beam Echo Sounder and Navigation Data Collected Using a Simrad EK80 Wide Band Tranceiver and ES38-10 Transducer During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA.
In summer 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the U.S Department of Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct the Mid-Atlantic Resources Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project. The field program objectives were to acquire high-resolution 2-dimensional multichannel seismic-reflection and split-beam echosounder...
Multichannel Seismic-Reflection and Navigation Data Collected Using Sercel GI Guns and Geometrics GeoEel Digital Streamers During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA
In summer 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the U.S Department of Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct the Mid-Atlantic Resources Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project. The field program objectives were to acquire high-resolution 2-dimensional multichannel seismic-reflection and split-beam echosounder...
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...
Geophysical data collected along the Atlantic Continental Slope and Rise 2014, U.S. Geological Survey Field Activity 2014-011-FA, Cruise MGL1407
In summer 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a 21-day geophysical program in deep water along the Atlantic continental margin by using R/V Marcus G. Langseth (Field Activity Number 2014-011-FA). The purpose of the seismic program was to collect multichannel seismic reflection and refraction data to determine sediment thickness. These data enable the United States to delineate its...
Filter Total Items: 19
A scaling relationship for the width of secondary deformation around strike-slip faults
Simple mechanical arguments suggest that slip along interlocked, rough faults, damages surrounding rocks. The same arguments require that the scale of secondary damage is proportional to the size of geometric irregularities along the main fault. This relationship could apply at all scales, but has, so far, been difficult to observe at the 10s to 100 s of km scales of large, natural...
Authors
R.G. Perrin, Nathaniel C. Miller, R.M. Lauer, Daniel S. Brothers
Subducting plate structure and megathrust morphology from deep seismic imaging linked to earthquake rupture segmentation at Cascadia
The origin of rupture segmentation along subduction zone megathrusts and linkages to the structural evolution of the subduction zone are poorly understood. Here, regional-scale seismic imaging of the Cascadia margin is used to characterize the megathrust spanning ~900 km from Vancouver Island to the California border, across the seismogenic zone to a few tens of kilometers from the coast...
Authors
Suzanne M. Carbotte, Brian Boston, Shuoshuo Han, Brandon Shuck, Jeffrey Beeson, Juan Pablo Canales, Harold Tobin, Nathaniel C. Miller, Mladen Nedimovic, Anne M. Tréhu, Michelle Lee, Madelaine Lucas, Hanchao Jian, Danqi Jiang, Liam Moser, Christine S. Anderson, Darren Judd, Jaime Fernandez, Chuck Campbell, Antara Goswami, Rajendra Gahlawat
Late-Quaternary surface displacements on accretionary wedge splay faults in the Cascadia Subduction Zone: Implications for megathrust rupture
Because splay faults branch at a steep dip angle from the plate-boundary décollement in an accretionary wedge, their coseismic displacement can potentially result in larger tsunamis with distinct characteristics compared to megathrust-only fault ruptures, posing an enhanced hazard to coastal communities. Elsewhere, there is evidence of coseismic slip on splay faults during many of the...
Authors
Anna Ledeczi, Madeleine Lucas, Harold Tobin, Janet Watt, Nathaniel C. Miller
Methane seeps on the U.S. Atlantic margin: An updated inventory and interpretative framework
Since the discovery of >570 methane flares on the northern U.S. Atlantic margin between Cape Hatteras and Georges Bank in the last decade, the acquisition of thousands of kilometers of additional water column imaging data has provided greater coverage at water depths between the outer continental shelf and the lower continental slope. The additional high-resolution data reveal >1400 gas...
Authors
Carolyn D. Ruppel, Adam Skarke, Nathaniel C. Miller, Maleen Kidiwela, Jared W. Kluesner, Wayne E. Baldwin
Diving deeper into seep distribution along the Cascadia Convergent Margin, USA
Previous margin-wide studies of methane seep distribution along the Cascadia Subduction Zone indicate peaks in seep density within the landward limit of the of gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ; ≤500 m depth), suggesting a link between current ocean warming, acceleration of hydrate dissociated, and methane emissions. This inferred connection, however, may not account for regional geologic...
Authors
Jane A. Rudebusch, Nancy G. Prouty, James E. Conrad, Janet Watt, Jared W. Kluesner, Jenna C. Hill, Nathaniel C. Miller, Sally J. Watson, Jess I.T. Hillman
Episodic intraplate magmatism fed by a long-lived melt channel of distal plume origin
In the past decade, marine geophysical observations have led to the discovery of thin channels at the base of oceanic plates with anomalous physical properties that indicate the presence of low-degree partial melts. However, mantle melts are buoyant and should migrate toward the surface. We show abundant observations of widespread intraplate magmatism on the Cocos Plate where a thin...
Authors
Samer Naif, Nathaniel C. Miller, Donna J. Shillington, Anne Becel, Daniel Lizarralde, Dan Bassett, Sidney R. Hemming
Systematic mapping of the ocean-continent transform plate boundary of the Queen Charlotte fault system, southeastern Alaska and western British Columbia—A preliminary bathymetric terrain model
In 2015, U.S. Geological Survey scientists in collaboration with scientists from other institutions began a study of the Queen Charlotte fault—the first systematic study of the fault in more than three decades. The primary goal of the study was to gain a better understanding of the earthquake, tsunami, and underwater-landslide hazards throughout southeastern Alaska, as well as gather...
Authors
Brian D. Andrews, Daniel S. Brothers, Peter Dartnell, J. Vaughn Barrie, Peter J. Haeussler, Kristen M. Green, H. Gary Greene, Nathaniel C. Miller, Jared W. Kluesner, Uri S. ten Brink
Neural net detection of seismic features related to gas hydrates and free gas accumulations on the northern U.S. Atlantic margin
Bottom-simulating reflections (BSRs) that sometimes mark the base of the gas hydrate stability zone in marine sediments are often identified based on the reverse polarity reflections that cut across stratigraphic layering in seismic amplitude data. On the northern U.S. Atlantic margin (USAM) between Cape Hatteras and Hudson Canyon, legacy seismic data have revealed pronounced BSRs south...
Authors
Urmi Majumdar, Nathaniel C. Miller, Carolyn D. Ruppel
U.S. Atlantic margin gas hydrates
The minimum distribution of gas hydrates on the U.S. Atlantic margin is from offshore South Carolina northward to the longitude of Shallop Canyon on the southern New England margin. Few wells have logged or sampled the gas hydrate zone on this margin, meaning that the presence of gas hydrates is inferred primarily based on seismic data that reveal bottom simulating reflections, mostly at...
Authors
Carolyn D. Ruppel, William Shedd, Nathaniel C. Miller, Jared W. Kluesner, Matthew Frye, Deborah Hutchinson
Limited mantle hydration by bending faults at the Middle America Trench
Seismic anisotropy measurements show that upper mantle hydration at the Middle America Trench (MAT) is limited to serpentinization and/or water in fault zones, rather than distributed uniformly. Subduction of hydrated oceanic lithosphere recycles water back into the deep mantle, drives arc volcanism, and affects seismicity at subduction zones. Constraining the extent of upper mantle...
Authors
Nathaniel C. Miller, Danile Lizarralde, John A. Collins, Steven Holbrook, Harm van Avendonk
Along-margin variations in breakup volcanism at the Eastern North American Margin
We model the magnetic signature of rift-related volcanism to understand the distribution and volumeofmagmatic activity that occurred during the breakup of Pangaea and early Atlantic opening at the Eastern North American Margin (ENAM).Along-strike variations in the amplitude and character of the prominent East Coast Magnetic Anomaly (ECMA) suggest that the emplacement of the volcanic...
Authors
John A. Greene, Masako Tominaga, Nathaniel C. Miller
Mysterious tsunami in the Caribbean Sea following the 2010 Haiti earthquake possibly generated by dynamically triggered early aftershocks
Dynamically triggered offshore aftershocks, caused by passing seismic waves from main shocks located on land, are currently not considered in tsunami warnings. The M7.0 2010 Haiti earthquake epicenter was located on land 27 km north of the Caribbean Sea and its focal mechanism was oblique strike-slip. Nevertheless, a tsunami recorded on a Caribbean Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of...
Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, Yong Wei, Wenyuan Fan, Jose-Luis Granja-Bruna, Nathaniel C. Miller
Science and Products
Cascadia Subduction Zone Marine Geohazards
Societal Issue: Uncertainty related to rupture extent, slip distribution, and recurrence of past subduction megathrust earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest (northern CA, OR, WA, and southern BC) leads to ambiguity in earthquake and tsunami hazard assessments and hinders our ability to prepare for future events.
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, 3-D CT Core Imaging Laboratory, Core Preparation and Analysis Laboratory and Sample Repositories, Multi-Sensor Core Logger Laboratory, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization, Subduction Zone Science
The Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX)
In late August 2018, scientists and technical staff from the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program completed the acquisition of over 2000 km of multichannel seismic (MCS) data as part of the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) conducted aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. The seismic program was led by the USGS Gas Hydrates Project and was sponsored by the USGS, the U.S...
High-resolution multichannel sparker seismic-reflection and chirp sub-bottom data acquired along the Cascadia margin during USGS field activity 2019-024-FA
High-resolution multichannel sparker seismic (MCS) data and chirp sub-bottom data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the University of Washington (UW) in the summer of 2019 along the Cascadia submarine forearc offshore Oregon and Washington. Data were acquired to characterize quaternary deformation and sediment dynamics along the central and northern...
High-resolution multichannel seismic reflection data collected along the New England outer continental shelf, slope, and rise south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S. Geological Survey Field Activity 2016-018-FA
High resolution multichannel seismic-reflection data were collected along the New England outer continental shelf, slope, and rise south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts, aboard the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) research vessel Neil Armstrong on June 11 - 12, 2016 in order to characterize the stratigraphy of a portion of the New England continental margin...
Multichannel sparker and chirp seismic reflection data collected offshore South East Alaska during USGS Field Activity 2017-621-FA
High-resolution multichannel seismic reflection data and chirp sub-bottom data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in July and August 2017 offshore southeast Alaska to expand data coverage along the Queen Charlotte Fault system. Data were acquired to study earthquake hazards, fault mechanics and submarine mass wasting processes along the Queen Charlotte fault system, a 1200 km...
Split-beam Echo Sounder and Navigation Data Collected Using a Simrad EK80 Wide Band Tranceiver and ES38-10 Transducer During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA.
In summer 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the U.S Department of Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct the Mid-Atlantic Resources Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project. The field program objectives were to acquire high-resolution 2-dimensional multichannel seismic-reflection and split-beam echosounder...
Multichannel Seismic-Reflection and Navigation Data Collected Using Sercel GI Guns and Geometrics GeoEel Digital Streamers During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA
In summer 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the U.S Department of Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct the Mid-Atlantic Resources Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project. The field program objectives were to acquire high-resolution 2-dimensional multichannel seismic-reflection and split-beam echosounder...
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...
Geophysical data collected along the Atlantic Continental Slope and Rise 2014, U.S. Geological Survey Field Activity 2014-011-FA, Cruise MGL1407
In summer 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a 21-day geophysical program in deep water along the Atlantic continental margin by using R/V Marcus G. Langseth (Field Activity Number 2014-011-FA). The purpose of the seismic program was to collect multichannel seismic reflection and refraction data to determine sediment thickness. These data enable the United States to delineate its...
Filter Total Items: 19
A scaling relationship for the width of secondary deformation around strike-slip faults
Simple mechanical arguments suggest that slip along interlocked, rough faults, damages surrounding rocks. The same arguments require that the scale of secondary damage is proportional to the size of geometric irregularities along the main fault. This relationship could apply at all scales, but has, so far, been difficult to observe at the 10s to 100 s of km scales of large, natural...
Authors
R.G. Perrin, Nathaniel C. Miller, R.M. Lauer, Daniel S. Brothers
Subducting plate structure and megathrust morphology from deep seismic imaging linked to earthquake rupture segmentation at Cascadia
The origin of rupture segmentation along subduction zone megathrusts and linkages to the structural evolution of the subduction zone are poorly understood. Here, regional-scale seismic imaging of the Cascadia margin is used to characterize the megathrust spanning ~900 km from Vancouver Island to the California border, across the seismogenic zone to a few tens of kilometers from the coast...
Authors
Suzanne M. Carbotte, Brian Boston, Shuoshuo Han, Brandon Shuck, Jeffrey Beeson, Juan Pablo Canales, Harold Tobin, Nathaniel C. Miller, Mladen Nedimovic, Anne M. Tréhu, Michelle Lee, Madelaine Lucas, Hanchao Jian, Danqi Jiang, Liam Moser, Christine S. Anderson, Darren Judd, Jaime Fernandez, Chuck Campbell, Antara Goswami, Rajendra Gahlawat
Late-Quaternary surface displacements on accretionary wedge splay faults in the Cascadia Subduction Zone: Implications for megathrust rupture
Because splay faults branch at a steep dip angle from the plate-boundary décollement in an accretionary wedge, their coseismic displacement can potentially result in larger tsunamis with distinct characteristics compared to megathrust-only fault ruptures, posing an enhanced hazard to coastal communities. Elsewhere, there is evidence of coseismic slip on splay faults during many of the...
Authors
Anna Ledeczi, Madeleine Lucas, Harold Tobin, Janet Watt, Nathaniel C. Miller
Methane seeps on the U.S. Atlantic margin: An updated inventory and interpretative framework
Since the discovery of >570 methane flares on the northern U.S. Atlantic margin between Cape Hatteras and Georges Bank in the last decade, the acquisition of thousands of kilometers of additional water column imaging data has provided greater coverage at water depths between the outer continental shelf and the lower continental slope. The additional high-resolution data reveal >1400 gas...
Authors
Carolyn D. Ruppel, Adam Skarke, Nathaniel C. Miller, Maleen Kidiwela, Jared W. Kluesner, Wayne E. Baldwin
Diving deeper into seep distribution along the Cascadia Convergent Margin, USA
Previous margin-wide studies of methane seep distribution along the Cascadia Subduction Zone indicate peaks in seep density within the landward limit of the of gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ; ≤500 m depth), suggesting a link between current ocean warming, acceleration of hydrate dissociated, and methane emissions. This inferred connection, however, may not account for regional geologic...
Authors
Jane A. Rudebusch, Nancy G. Prouty, James E. Conrad, Janet Watt, Jared W. Kluesner, Jenna C. Hill, Nathaniel C. Miller, Sally J. Watson, Jess I.T. Hillman
Episodic intraplate magmatism fed by a long-lived melt channel of distal plume origin
In the past decade, marine geophysical observations have led to the discovery of thin channels at the base of oceanic plates with anomalous physical properties that indicate the presence of low-degree partial melts. However, mantle melts are buoyant and should migrate toward the surface. We show abundant observations of widespread intraplate magmatism on the Cocos Plate where a thin...
Authors
Samer Naif, Nathaniel C. Miller, Donna J. Shillington, Anne Becel, Daniel Lizarralde, Dan Bassett, Sidney R. Hemming
Systematic mapping of the ocean-continent transform plate boundary of the Queen Charlotte fault system, southeastern Alaska and western British Columbia—A preliminary bathymetric terrain model
In 2015, U.S. Geological Survey scientists in collaboration with scientists from other institutions began a study of the Queen Charlotte fault—the first systematic study of the fault in more than three decades. The primary goal of the study was to gain a better understanding of the earthquake, tsunami, and underwater-landslide hazards throughout southeastern Alaska, as well as gather...
Authors
Brian D. Andrews, Daniel S. Brothers, Peter Dartnell, J. Vaughn Barrie, Peter J. Haeussler, Kristen M. Green, H. Gary Greene, Nathaniel C. Miller, Jared W. Kluesner, Uri S. ten Brink
Neural net detection of seismic features related to gas hydrates and free gas accumulations on the northern U.S. Atlantic margin
Bottom-simulating reflections (BSRs) that sometimes mark the base of the gas hydrate stability zone in marine sediments are often identified based on the reverse polarity reflections that cut across stratigraphic layering in seismic amplitude data. On the northern U.S. Atlantic margin (USAM) between Cape Hatteras and Hudson Canyon, legacy seismic data have revealed pronounced BSRs south...
Authors
Urmi Majumdar, Nathaniel C. Miller, Carolyn D. Ruppel
U.S. Atlantic margin gas hydrates
The minimum distribution of gas hydrates on the U.S. Atlantic margin is from offshore South Carolina northward to the longitude of Shallop Canyon on the southern New England margin. Few wells have logged or sampled the gas hydrate zone on this margin, meaning that the presence of gas hydrates is inferred primarily based on seismic data that reveal bottom simulating reflections, mostly at...
Authors
Carolyn D. Ruppel, William Shedd, Nathaniel C. Miller, Jared W. Kluesner, Matthew Frye, Deborah Hutchinson
Limited mantle hydration by bending faults at the Middle America Trench
Seismic anisotropy measurements show that upper mantle hydration at the Middle America Trench (MAT) is limited to serpentinization and/or water in fault zones, rather than distributed uniformly. Subduction of hydrated oceanic lithosphere recycles water back into the deep mantle, drives arc volcanism, and affects seismicity at subduction zones. Constraining the extent of upper mantle...
Authors
Nathaniel C. Miller, Danile Lizarralde, John A. Collins, Steven Holbrook, Harm van Avendonk
Along-margin variations in breakup volcanism at the Eastern North American Margin
We model the magnetic signature of rift-related volcanism to understand the distribution and volumeofmagmatic activity that occurred during the breakup of Pangaea and early Atlantic opening at the Eastern North American Margin (ENAM).Along-strike variations in the amplitude and character of the prominent East Coast Magnetic Anomaly (ECMA) suggest that the emplacement of the volcanic...
Authors
John A. Greene, Masako Tominaga, Nathaniel C. Miller
Mysterious tsunami in the Caribbean Sea following the 2010 Haiti earthquake possibly generated by dynamically triggered early aftershocks
Dynamically triggered offshore aftershocks, caused by passing seismic waves from main shocks located on land, are currently not considered in tsunami warnings. The M7.0 2010 Haiti earthquake epicenter was located on land 27 km north of the Caribbean Sea and its focal mechanism was oblique strike-slip. Nevertheless, a tsunami recorded on a Caribbean Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of...
Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, Yong Wei, Wenyuan Fan, Jose-Luis Granja-Bruna, Nathaniel C. Miller