Peter J Haeussler, Ph.D.
Biography
Education
Postdoctoral Researcher 1992-1994 U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, Alaska
Ph.D. 1991 University of California Santa Cruz Earth Sciences
B.S. 1984 Michigan State University Geology
Areas of Specialization and/or Research Interests
Earthquake hazards
- onshore-offshore study of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system.
- identification and characterization of seismic sources across southern Alaska, including the Castle Mountain fault, Denali fault, Totschunda fault, Broad Pass fault, Patton Bay thrust, Cape Cleare thrust, and fault cored folds in the Cook Inlet and Susitna basins.
- paleoseismology of the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust from coastal marsh and lake records.
- I am strongly interested in improving our understanding of active and recent deformation in Alaska, whether it is onshore or offshore, using any types of data that shed light on the most recent geologic history of the state.
Submarine landslides
- Characterization and description of submarine landslides in coastal fjords of southern Alaska generated by the 1964 M9.2 earthquake
Framework geology
- Geology of the western Alaska Range and southeastern Alaska
- Cook Inlet, Susitna, and Peters Hills basin geology
- Accretionary complex history and record of ridge subduction
Alaska Earthquake Hazards
- I am the Alaska Coordinator for the Earthquake Hazards Program of the USGS. I provide input to the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program Council on Alaska issues and I am the Alaska coordinator for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program external grants program. Feel free to contact with me to discuss various proposal ideas.
- Media experience: I frequently discuss earthquake hazards and Alaskan geology with the media. I have appeared on, and provided input to, the National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, History Channel, Nightline, Frontline, and numerous other local and regional media outlets.
Professional Experience
1994 - Present Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, Alaska
1992 - 1994 Postdoctoral Researcher, U.S. Geological Survey, Anchorage, Alaska
1992 Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
1986 - 1991 Research Assistant, University of California Santa Cruz
1985 - 1988 Teaching Assistant, University of California Santa Cruz
1985 Geologist, Lancer Energy Corporation, Wilmore, Kentucky
Professional Activities and/or Memberships
1985-present, American Geophysical Union
1985-present, Geological Society of America
1992-present, Alaska Geological Society
2010-present, Seismological Society of America
Honors and/or Awards
- Fellow, Geological Society of America
Science and Products
Earthquake Hazards in Southeastern Alaska
Over the last 100 years, the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system has produced large-magnitude earthquakes affecting both Canada and the U.S. To fill in missing details about its offshore location and structure, USGS uses sophisticated techniques to truly understand the fault’s hazard potential.
Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards
Alaska has more large earthquakes than the rest of the United States combined. More than three-quarters of the state’s population live in an area that can experience a magnitude 7 earthquake. Our research provides objective science that helps stakeholders prepare for and mitigate the effects of future earthquakes and tsunamis, which bolsters the economic health and well-being of Alaska and the...
Alaska Seismic Hazard Map
The National Seismic Hazard Maps developed by the USGS show the spatial probability of peak earthquake-driven ground motion levels. Since the last revisions to the map for Alaska in 2007, scientists have made significant advances in understanding active faulting, fault slip rates, and fault behavior.
Alaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone Studies
Our research team is exploring seismic and aseismic slip along the Alaska-Aleutian arc and studying the prehistoric record of megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis along the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone
Seismic and Aseismic Slip: Tectonic tremor and associated slow slip events represent a newly discovered part of the earthquake cycle. This research aims to...
Characterizing the Active Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System
This research aims to better characterize the earthquake potential of the southern Fairweather Fault in order to provide more accurate fault source data for the USGS National Seismic Hazard Map. Our approach interrogates lidar data and satellite imagery, applies paleoseismological methods to examine earthquake history, and leverages partnerships with USGS scientists from Colorado and...
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...
The "Snow Plow Theory"* of Early-Arriving Tsunamis
Release Date: JUNE 1, 2015
What is a splay fault, and how can they affect tsunamis?
* completely contrived term by this author, not a scientific term or theory
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.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Susitna Basin, southern Alaska, 2017
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Susitna Basin of southern Alaska. Using a geology-based methodology, the USGS estimates that mean undiscovered volumes of about 2 million barrels of oil and nearly 1.7 trillion cubic feet of gas may be found in...
Stanley, Richard G.; Potter, Christopher J.; Lewis, Kristen A.; Lillis, Paul G.; Shah, Anjana K.; Haeussler, Peter J.; Phillips, Jeffrey D.; Valin, Zenon C.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Klett, Timothy R.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Drake, Ronald M.; Finn, Thomas M.; Haines, Seth S.; Higley, Debra K.; Houseknecht, David W.; Le, Phuong A.; Marra, Kristen R.; Mercier, Tracey J.; Leathers-Miller, Heidi M.; Paxton, Stanley T.; Pearson, Ofori N.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.; Woodall, Cheryl A.; Zyrianova, Margarita V. Deformation of the Pacific/North America plate boundary at Queen Charlotte Fault: The possible role of rheology
The Pacific/North America (PA/NA) plate boundary between Vancouver Island and Alaska is similar to the PA/NA boundary in California in its kinematic history and the rate and azimuth of current relative motion, yet their deformation styles are distinct. The California plate boundary shows a broad zone of parallel strike slip and thrust faults and...
ten Brink, Uri S.; Miller, Nathaniel C.; Andrews, Brian D.; Brothers, Daniel; Haeussler, Peter J. Strain partitioning in southeastern Alaska: Is the Chatham Strait Fault active?
A 1200 km-long transform plate boundary passes through southeastern Alaska and northwestern British Columbia and represents one of the most seismically active, but poorly understood continental margins of North America. Although most of the plate motion is accommodated by the right-lateral Queen Charlotte–Fairweather Fault (QCFF) System,...
Brothers, Daniel; Elliott, Julie L.; Conrad, James E.; Haeussler, Peter J.; Kluesner, Jared The Peters Hills basin, a Neogene wedge-top basin on the Broad Pass thrust fault, south-central Alaska
The Neogene Peters Hills basin is a small terrestrial basin that formed along the south flank of the Alaska Range during a time in which there was regional shortening. The formation of the Peters Hills basin is consistent with it being a wedge-top basin that formed on top of the active southeast-vergent Broad Pass thrust fault. Movement along this...
Haeussler, Peter J.; Saltus, Richard W.; Stanley, Richard G.; Ruppert, Natalia; Lewis, Kristen; Karl, Susan M.; Bender, Adrian M. Neotectonics of interior Alaska and the late Quaternary slip rate along the Denali fault system
The neotectonics of southern Alaska (USA) are characterized by a several hundred kilometers–wide zone of dextral transpressional that spans the Alaska Range. The Denali fault system is the largest active strike-slip fault system in interior Alaska, and it produced a Mw 7.9 earthquake in 2002. To evaluate the late Quaternary slip rate on the...
Haeussler, Peter J.; Matmon, Ari; Schwartz, David P.; Seitz, Gordon G.
Eastern Denali Fault surface trace map, eastern Alaska and Yukon, Canada
We map the 385-kilometer (km) long surface trace of the right-lateral, strike-slip Denali Fault between the Totschunda-Denali Fault intersection in Alaska, United States and the village of Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada. In Alaska, digital elevation models based on light detection and ranging and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data...
Bender, Adrian M.; Haeussler, Peter J. Paleoseismic potential of sublacustrine landslide records in a high-seismicity setting (south-central Alaska)
Sublacustrine landslide stratigraphy is considered useful for quantitative paleoseismology in low-seismicity settings. However, as the recharging of underwater slopes with sediments is one of the factors that governs the recurrence of slope failures, it is not clear if landslide deposits can provide continuous paleoseismic records in settings of...
Praet, Nore; Moernaut, Jasper; Van Daele, Maarten; Boes, Evelien; Haeussler, Peter J.; Strupler, Michael; Schmidt, Sabine; Loso, Michael G.; De Batist, Marc Late Oligocene to present contractional structure in and around the Susitna basin, Alaska—Geophysical evidence and geological implications
The Cenozoic Susitna basin lies within an enigmatic lowland surrounded by the Central Alaska Range, Western Alaska Range (including the Tordrillo Mountains), and Talkeetna Mountains in south-central Alaska. Some previous interpretations show normal faults as the defining structures of the basin (e.g., Kirschner, 1994). However, analysis of new and...
Saltus, Richard W.; Stanley, Richard G.; Haeussler, Peter J.; Jones, James V.; Potter, Christopher J.; Lewis, Kristen A. Changing exhumation patterns during Cenozoic growth and glaciation of the Alaska Range: Insights from detrital thermochronology and geochronology
Cenozoic growth of the Alaska Range created the highest topography in North America, but the space-time pattern and drivers of exhumation are poorly constrained. We analyzed U/Pb and fission-track double dates of detrital zircon and apatite grains from 12 catchments that span a 450 km length of the Alaska Range to illuminate the timing and extent...
Lease, Richard O.; Haeussler, Peter J.; O'Sullivan, Paul A submarine landslide source for the devastating 1964 Chenega tsunami, southern Alaska
During the 1964 Great Alaska earthquake (Mw 9.2), several fjords, straits, and bays throughout southern Alaska experienced significant tsunami runup of localized, but unexplained origin. Dangerous Passage is a glacimarine fjord in western Prince William Sound, which experienced a tsunami that devastated the village of Chenega where 23 of 75...
Brothers, Daniel; Haeussler, Peter J.; Lee Liberty; David Finlayson; Geist, Eric L.; Labay, Keith A.; Michael Byerly Basement and regional structure along strike of the Queen Charlotte Fault in the context of modern and historical earthquake ruptures
The Queen Charlotte fault (QCF) is a dextral transform system located offshore of southeastern Alaska and western Canada, accommodating ∼4.4 cm/yr of relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates. Oblique convergence along the fault increases southward, and how this convergence is accommodated is still debated....
Walton, Maureen A. L.; Gulick, Sean P. S.; Haeussler, Peter J.; Roland, Emily C.; Tréhu, Anne M.
3D Focal Mechanisms
3D Focal Mechanisms is a tool for viewing earthquake focal mechanism symbols three dimensionally.
Study of Alaskan Landslide Could Improve Tsunami Modeling
A rare submarine landslide provides researchers with a reference point for modeling the biggest tsunamis. (EOS article)
Scientists complete mission to map fast-moving fault off Alaska: Data will help coastal communities prepare for risks from earthquakes and tsunamis
Researchers from NOAA, U.S. Geological Survey and their partners have completed the first high-resolution, comprehensive mapping of one of the fastest moving underwater tectonic faults in the world, located in southeastern Alaska. This information will help communities in coastal Alaska and Canada better understand and prepare for the risks from earthquakes and tsunamis that can occur when faults suddenly move.
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.