Engelhart, S. E., Horton, B. P., Nelson, A. R., Hawkes, A. D., Witter, R. C., Wang, K., Wang P.-L., and Vane, C. H., 2013, Testing the use of microfossils to reconstruct great earthquakes at Cascadia, Geology, doi:10.1130/G34544.1.
Rob Witter, Ph.D.
I conduct geological detective work that uncovers clues about the location, size, and frequency of ancient earthquakes and tsunamis. If we prepare for these hazards we can prevent future earthquakes and tsunamis from becoming future disasters.
Biography
Research Focus
I study prehistoric earthquakes along the Pacific-North American plate boundary. I apply aspects of geomorphology, paleoseismology, geodesy, and sea-level studies to decipher the geologic record of ancient earthquakes. Most of my work focuses on great subduction earthquakes capable of generating tsunamis. What I find out contributes to seismic and tsunami hazards assessments used to strengthen building codes and reduce tsunami risk.
Research Highlights
Mind the Gap: New Evidence for Alaskan Tsunamis Found
LiveScience reporter Becky Oskin highlights USGS findings that help fill gaps in Alaska’s earthquake and tsunami history.
Unknown Tsunami Trigger Hides Along a Creeping Aleutian Fault
EOS writer Cody Sullivan reviews USGS tsunami research published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Uncharted: Exploring one of America’s fastest faults
A team of USGS scientists spent 10 days in the wilderness investigating the Fairweather Fault.
Return to the Alaska Wilderness
USGS Scientists visit one of North America’s fastest-moving faults.
Education
BA in Biology, 1991, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
PhD in Geoscience, 1999, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Professional Experience
2011–present, Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK
2006–2011, Regional Coastal Geologist, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Newport, OR
1999–2006, Senior Project Geologist, William Lettis & Associates, Inc., Walnut Creek, CA
Recent Publications
Witter, R. C., Briggs, R. W., Engelhart, S. E., Gelfenbaum, G., Koehler, R. D., Nelson, A. R., La Selle, S., Corbett, D. R., Wallace, K. L., (2019) 131 (5-6): 707-729, Evidence for frequent, large tsunamis spanning locked and creeping parts of the Aleutian megathrust, Geological Society of America Bulletin, doi:10.1130/B32031.1.
Witter, R. C., LeWinter, A., Glennie, C., Hauser, D., Bender, A. M. and Finnegan, D., 2017, Digital Elevation Models of Glacier Bay National Park, Between Lituya Bay and Icy Point, Alaska, Derived from Airborne Lidar Data Acquired in September 2015: U.S. Geological Survey data release, doi:10.5066/F7W094D4.
Witter, R. C., LeWinter, A., Bender, A., Glennie, C., and Finnegan, D., 2017, Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 177, doi:10.3133/gip177.
Priest, G. R., Witter, R. C., Zhang, Y. J., Goldfinger, C., Wang, K., Allan, J. C., 2017, New constraints on coseismic slip during southern Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes over the past 4600 years implied by tsunami deposits and marine turbidites, Natural Hazards, doi:10.1007/s11069-017-2864-9.
Horton, B. P., Milker, Y., Dura, T., Wang, K., Bridgeland, W. T., Brophy, L., Ewald, M., Khan, N.S., Engelhart, S.E., Nelson, A.R., and Witter, R.C., 2017, Microfossil measures of rapid sea-level rise: Timing of response of two microfossil groups to a sudden tidal-flooding experiment in Cascadia. Geology, doi:10.1130/G38832.1.
Witter, R. C., Carver, G. A., Briggs, R. W., Gelfenbaum, G., Koehler, R. D., LaSelle, S., Bender, A. M., Engelhart, S. E., Hemphill-Haley, E., and Hill, R., 2016, Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust, Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/2015GL066083.
Nicolsky, D.J., Freymueller, J.T., Witter, R.C., Suleimani, E.N., Koehler, R.D., 2016, Evidence for shallow megathrust slip across the Unalaska seismic gap during the great 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake, eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/2016GL070704.
Milker, Y., Nelson, A. R., Horton, B. P., Engelhart, S. E., Bradley, L.-A., and Witter, R.C., 2016. Differences in coastal subsidence in southern Oregon (USA) during at least six prehistoric megathrust earthquakes. Quaternary Science Reviews, 142(C), 143–163. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.04.017.
Milker, Y., Horton, B. P., Vane, C. H., Engelhart, S. E., Nelson, A. R., Witter, R. C., Khan, N. S., Bridgeland, W. T., 2015, Annual and seasonal distribution of intertidal foraminifera and stable carbon isotope geochemistry, Bandon Marsh, Oregon, USA. Journal of Foraminiferal Research, doi:10.2113/gsjfr.45.2.146.
Haeussler, P. J., R. C. Witter, and K. Wang, 2015, Intertidal biological indicators of coseismic subsidence during the M7.8 Haida Gwaii, Canada, earthquake, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America doi:10.1785/0120140197.
Kelsey, H. M., R. C. Witter, S. E. Engelhart, R. W. Briggs, A. R. Nelson, P. J. Haeussler, and R. Corbett, 2015, Beach ridges as paleoseismic indicators of abrupt coastal subsidence during subduction zone earthquakes, and implications for Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone paleoseismology, southeast coast of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, Quaternary Science Reviews, 113, 147-158, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.01.006.
Witter, R. C., 2015, Chapter 3.1, Pre-fieldwork surveys, in Shennan, I., Long, A.J., and Horton, B.P. (eds), Handbook of Sea-Level Research, Wiley-Blackwell, p. 29–46.
Witter, R.C., R.W. Briggs, S.E. Engelhart, G. Gelfenbaum, R.D. Koehler, and W.D. Barnhart, 2014, Little late Holocene strain accumulation and release on the Aleutian megathrust below the Shumagin Islands, Alaska, Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/2014GL059393.
Priest, G.R., Y. Zhang, R.C. Witter, K. Wang, C. Goldfinger, L. Stimely, 2014, Tsunami impact to Washington and northern Oregon from segment ruptures on the southern Cascadia subduction zone, Natural Hazards, doi:10.1007/s11069-014-1041-7.
Witter, R. C., Y. J Zhang, K. Wang, G. R. Priest, C. Goldfinger, L.Stimely, J. T. English, and P. A. Ferro, 2013, Simulated tsunami inundation for a range of Cascadia megathrust earthquake scenarios at Bandon, Oregon, USA, Geosphere, v. 9, no. 6, doi:10.1130/GES00899.1.
Engelhart, S. E., Horton, B. P., Nelson, A. R., Hawkes, A. D., Witter, R. C., Wang, K., Wang P.-L., and Vane, C. H., 2013, Testing the use of microfossils to reconstruct great earthquakes at Cascadia, Geology, doi:10.1130/G34544.1.
Wang, P.-L., S. E. Engelhart, K. Wang., A. D. Hawkes, B. P. Horton, A. R. Nelson, and R. C. Witter, 2013, Heterogeneous rupture in the great Cascadia earthquake of 1700 inferred from coastal subsidence estimates, Journal of Geophysical Research, doi:10.1002/jgrb.50101.
Engelhart, S. E., B. P. Horton, C. H. Vane, A. R. Nelson, R. C. Witter, S. R. Brody, and A. D. Hawkes, 2013, Modern foraminifera, δ13C, and bulk geochemistry of central Oregon tidal marshes and their application in paleoseismology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.02.032.
Kelson, K., R. C. Witter, A. Tassara, I. Ryder, C. Ledezma, G. Montalva, D. Frost, N. Sitar, R. Moss, and L. Johnson, 2012, Coseismic tectonic surface deformation during the 2012 Maule, Chile, Mw 8.8 earthquake, Earthquake Spectra, v. 28, n. S1, p. 39-54.
Pilarczyk, J. E., Horton, B. P., Witter, R. C., Vane, C. H., Chagué-Goff, C., Goff, J., 2012, Sedimentary and foraminiferal evidence of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the Sendai coastal plain, Japan. Sedimentary Geology. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2012.08.011.
Richmond, B., W. Szczucinski, C.Chague-Goff, K. Goto, D. Sugawara, R. Witter, D.R. Tappin, B. Jaffe, S. Fujino, Y. Nishimura, and J. Goff, 2012, Erosion, deposition and landscape change on the Sendai coastal plain, Japan, resulting from the March 11, 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami, Sedimentary Geology, doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2012.08.005.
Witter, R.C., Y.J. Zhang, K. Wang, C. Goldfinger, and G.R. Priest, 2012, Coseismic slip on the southern Cascadia megathrust implied by tsunami deposits in an Oregon lake and earthquake-triggered marine turbidites, Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, B10303, doi:10.1029/2012JB009404.
Witter, R. C., B. Jaffe, Y. Zhang, and G. R. Priest, 2012, Reconstructing Hydrodynamic Flow Parameters of the 1700 Tsunami at Cannon Beach, Oregon, USA, Natural Hazards, doi:10.1007/s11069-011-9912-7.
Allan, J., P. Komar, P. Ruggiero, and R.C. Witter, 2012, The March 2011 Tohoku tsunami and its impacts along the U.S. West Coast, Journal of Coastal Research, Journal of Coastal Research, v. 28, n. 5, p. 1142-1153, doi:10.2112/jcoastres-d-11-00115.1.
Goto, K., C. Chague-Goff, S. Fujino, J. Goff, B. Jaffe, Y. Nishimura, B. Richmond, D. Suguwara, W. Szczucinski, D.R. Tappin, R. Witter, and E. Yulianto, 2011, New insights of tsunami hazard from the 2011 Tohoku-oki event, Marine Geology, 290, 46-50.
Horton, B. P., Sawai, Y., Hawkes, A. D., and Witter, R. C., 2011, Sedimentology and paleontology of a tsunami deposit accompanying the great Chilean earthquake of February 2010: Marine Micropaleontology, v. 79, no. 3-4, p. 132–138.
Zhang, Y. J., R. C. Witter, and G. R. Priest, 2011, Tsunami-tide interaction in 1964 Prince William Sound tsunami, Ocean Modelling, v. 40, p. 246–259.
Science and Products
Date published: November 5, 2019
Status: Active M7.1 November 30, 2018 Anchorage Earthquake
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck north of Anchorage, Alaska, on November 30, 2018, at 8:29 a.m. local time (17:29:28 UTC).
Date published: February 1, 2019
Status: Active 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...
Date published: October 9, 2018
Status: Active 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.
Date published: October 9, 2018
Status: Active 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...
Date published: October 9, 2018
Status: Active 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...
Date published: June 5, 2018
Status: Active 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...
Attribution: John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
Year Published: 2019
Evidence for frequent, large tsunamis spanning locked and creeping parts of the Aleutian megathrust
At the eastern end of the 1957 Andreanof Islands magnitude-8.6 earthquake rupture, Driftwood Bay (Umnak Island) and Stardust Bay (Sedanka Island) lie along presently locked and creeping parts of the Aleutian megathrust, respectively, based on satellite geodesy onshore. Both bays, located 200-km apart, face the Aleutian trench and harbor coastal...
Witter, Robert C.; Briggs, Richard W.; Engelhart, Simon E.; Gelfenbaum, Guy R.; Koehler, Richard D; Nelson, Alan R.; La Selle, Seanpaul; Corbett, Reide; Wallace, Kristi
Year Published: 2018
Wetland stratigraphic evidence for variable megathrust earthquake rupture modes at the Cascadia subduction zone
Although widespread agreement that the Cascadia subduction zone produces great earthquakes of magnitude 8 to 9 was reached decades ago, debate continues about the rupture lengths, magnitudes, and frequency of megathrust earthquakes recorded by wetland stratigraphy fringing Cascadia’s estuaries. Correlation of such coastal earthquake evidence along...
Nelson, Alan R.; Witter, Robert C.; Englehart, Simon; Hawkers, Andrea; Horton, Benjamin P.Attribution: Natural Hazards, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Natural Hazards, Earthquake Hazards Program, Rocky Mountain, Oregon, Washington, United States of America, Canada
View Citation
Wetland stratigraphic evidence for variable megathrust earthquake rupture modes at the Cascadia subduction zone, in Piscitelli, A., Milella, M., and Mastronuzzi, G., eds, Abstract volume for IGCP Project 639 - Sea-level change from minutes to millenia, Crossing southern Italy, a traveling meeting from Taranto to Siracusa, Italy 17-21 Sept 2018, p. 85-87.
Year Published: 2017
New constraints on coseismic slip during southern Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes over the past 4600 years implied by tsunami deposits and marine turbidites
Forecasting earthquake and tsunami hazards along the southern Cascadia subduction zone is complicated by uncertainties in the amount of megathrust fault slip during past ruptures. Here, we estimate slip on hypothetical ruptures of the southern part of the megathrust through comparisons of late Holocene Cascadia earthquake histories derived from...
Priest, George R.; Witter, Robert C.; Zhang, Yinglong J.; Goldfinger, Chris; Wang, Kelin; Allan, Jonathan C.Attribution: Alaska Science Center, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Region 11: Alaska
View Citation
Priest, G.R., Witter, R.C., Zhang, Y.J., Goldfinger, C., Wang, K., and Allan, J.C., 2017, New constraints on coseismic slip during southern Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes over the past 4,600 years implied by tsunami deposits and marine turbidites: Natural Hazards, doi:10.1007/s11069-017-2864-9
Year Published: 2017
Microfossil measures of rapid sea-level rise: Timing of response of two microfossil groups to a sudden tidal-flooding experiment in Cascadia
Comparisons of pre-earthquake and post-earthquake microfossils in tidal sequences are accurate means to measure coastal subsidence during past subduction earthquakes, but the amount of subsidence is uncertain, because the response times of fossil taxa to coseismic relative sea-level (RSL) rise are unknown. We measured the response of diatoms and...
Horton, B.P.; Milker, Yvonne; Dura, T.; Wang, Kelin; Bridgeland, W.T.; Brophy, Laura S.; Ewald, M.; Khan, Nicole; Engelhart, S.E.; Nelson, Alan R.; Witter, Robert C.Attribution: Natural Hazards, Oceans, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Natural Hazards, Earthquake Hazards Program, Rocky Mountain, Oregon, Washington, United States of America
View Citation
B.P. Horton, Y. Milker, T. Dura, K. Wang, W.T. Bridgeland, L. Brophy, M. Ewald, N.S. Khan, S.E. Engelhart8,
A.R. Nelson, and R.C. Witter
Y. Milker;
T. Dura;
K. Wang;
W.T. Bridgeland;
L. Brophy;
M. Ewald;
N.S. Khan;
S.E. Engelhart;
A.R. Nelson;
R.C. Witter
Year Published: 2017
Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Within Glacier Bay National Park in southeastern Alaska, the Fairweather Fault represents the onshore boundary between two of Earth’s constantly moving tectonic plates: the North American Plate and the Yakutat microplate. Satellite measurements indicate that during the past few decades the Yakutat microplate has moved northwest at a rate of nearly...
Witter, Robert C.; LeWinter, Adam; Bender, Adrian M.; Glennie, Craig; Finnegan, DavidAttribution: Alaska Science Center, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Region 11: Alaska
View Citation
Witter, R.C., LeWinter, A., Bender, A., Glennie, C., and Finnegan, D., 2017, Sculpted by water, elevated by earthquakes—The coastal landscape of Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 177, https://doi.org/10.3133/gip177.
Year Published: 2016
Evidence for shallow megathrust slip across the Unalaska seismic gap during the great 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake, eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska
We reassess the slip distribution of the 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake in the eastern part of the aftershock zone where published slip models infer little or no slip. Eyewitness reports, tide gauge data, and geological evidence for 9–23 m tsunami runups imply seafloor deformation offshore Unalaska Island in 1957, in contrast with previous...
Nicolsky, D. J.; Freymueller, J.T.; Witter, Robert C.; Suleimani, E. N.; Koehler, R.D.
Year Published: 2016
Differences in coastal subsidence in southern Oregon (USA) during at least six prehistoric megathrust earthquakes
Stratigraphic, sedimentologic (including CT 3D X-ray tomography scans), foraminiferal, and radiocarbon analyses show that at least six of seven abrupt peat-to-mud contacts in cores from a tidal marsh at Talbot Creek (South Slough, Coos Bay), record sudden subsidence (relative sea-level rise) during great megathrust earthquakes at the Cascadia...
Milker, Yvonne; Nelson, Alan R.; Horton, Benjamin P.; Engelhart, Simon E.; Bradley, Lee-Ann; Witter, Robert C.Attribution: Natural Hazards, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Natural Hazards, Earthquake Hazards Program, Rocky Mountain, Oregon, United States of America
View Citation
Milker, Y., Nelson, A. R., Horton, B. P., Engelhart, S. E., Bradley, L-A, and
Witter, R. C., Differences in coastal subsidence in southern Oregon (USA)
during at least six megathrust earthquakes, Quaternary Science Reviews ,
v. 142, p. 143-163,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.04.017.
Year Published: 2016
Unusually large tsunamis frequent a currently creeping part of the Aleutian megathrust
Current models used to assess earthquake and tsunami hazards are inadequate where creep dominates a subduction megathrust. Here we report geological evidence for large tsunamis, occurring on average every 300–340 years, near the source areas of the 1946 and 1957 Aleutian tsunamis. These areas bookend a postulated seismic gap over 200 km long...
Witter, Robert C.; Carver, G.A.; Briggs, Richard W.; Gelfenbaum, Guy R.; Koehler, R.D.; La Selle, SeanPaul M.; Bender, Adrian M.; Engelhart, S.E.; Hemphill-Haley, E.; Hill, Troy D.
Year Published: 2015
Variability of intertidal foraminferal assemblages in a salt marsh, Oregon, USA
We studied 18 sampling stations along a transect to investigate the similarity between live (rose Bengal stained) foraminiferal populations and dead assemblages, their small-scale spatial variations and the distribution of infaunal foraminifera in a salt marsh (Toms Creek marsh) at the upper end of the South Slough arm of the Coos Bay estuary,...
Milker, Yvonne; Horton, Benjamin P.; Nelson, Alan R.; Engelhart, Simon E.; Witter, Robert C.
Year Published: 2015
Intertidal biological indicators of coseismic subsidence during the Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii, Canada, earthquake
The 28 October 2012 Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii earthquake was a megathrust earthquake along the very obliquely convergent Queen Charlotte margin of British Columbia, Canada. Coseismic deformation is not well constrained by geodesy, with only six Global Positioning System (GPS) sites and two tide gauge stations within 250 km of the rupture...
Haeussler, Peter J.; Witter, Robert C.; Wang, KelinAttribution: Alaska Science Center, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Region 11: Alaska
View Citation
Haeussler, P.J., witter, R.C., and Wang, K., 2015, Intertidal Biological Indicators of Coseismic Subsidence during the Mw 7.8 Haida Gwaii, Canada, Earthquake. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America Vol. 105, No. 2B, p. 1265-1279. doi:10.1785/0120140197
Year Published: 2015
Pre-fieldwork surveys
In sea-level studies, initial surveys at the office or library can increase a project’s likelihood of success. Pre-fieldwork surveys should begin with a thorough review of prior research literature that appraises available data, identifies data gaps, and places the project objectives into a broader scientific context. Whereas peer reviewed journal...
Shennan, Ian; Long, Antony J.; Horton, Benajamin P.; Witter, Robert C.
Year Published: 2015
Beach ridges as paleoseismic indicators of abrupt coastal subsidence during subduction zone earthquakes, and implications for Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone paleoseismology, southeast coast of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
The Kenai section of the eastern Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone straddles two areas of high slip in the 1964 great Alaska earthquake and is the least studied of the three megathrust segments (Kodiak, Kenai, Prince William Sound) that ruptured in 1964. Investigation of two coastal sites in the eastern part of the Kenai segment, on the southeast...
Kelsey, Harvey M.; Witter, Robert C.; Engelhart, Simon E.; Briggs, Richard W.; Nelson, Alan R.; Haeussler, Peter J.; Corbett, D. ReidePre-USGS Publications
Engelhart, S. E., B. P. Horton, C. H. Vane, A. R. Nelson, R. C. Witter, S. R. Brody, and A. D. Hawkes, 2013, Modern foraminifera, δ13C, and bulk geochemistry of central Oregon tidal marshes and their application in paleoseismology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.02.032.
Coseismic tectonic surface deformation during the 2012 Maule, Chile, Mw 8.8 earthquake
Kelson, K., R. C. Witter, A. Tassara, I. Ryder, C. Ledezma, G. Montalva, D. Frost, N. Sitar, R. Moss, and L. Johnson, 2012, Coseismic tectonic surface deformation during the 2012 Maule, Chile, Mw 8.8 earthquake, Earthquake Spectra, v. 28, n. S1, p. 39-54.
Pilarczyk, J. E., Horton, B. P., Witter, R. C., Vane, C. H., Chagué-Goff, C., Goff, J., 2012, Sedimentary and foraminiferal evidence of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the Sendai coastal plain, Japan. Sedimentary Geology. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2012.08.011.
Richmond, B., W. Szczucinski, C.Chague-Goff, K. Goto, D. Sugawara, R. Witter, D.R. Tappin, B. Jaffe, S. Fujino, Y. Nishimura, and J. Goff, 2012, Erosion, deposition and landscape change on the Sendai coastal plain, Japan, resulting from the March 11, 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami, Sedimentary Geology, doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2012.08.005.
Witter, R.C., Y.J. Zhang, K. Wang, C. Goldfinger, and G.R. Priest, 2012, Coseismic slip on the southern Cascadia megathrust implied by tsunami deposits in an Oregon lake and earthquake-triggered marine turbidites, Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, B10303, doi:10.1029/2012JB009404.
Date published: May 31, 2019
New Tsunami Evidence Along One of Earth’s Largest Faults, the Alaska-Aleutian Megathrust
Recent geological studies of a key section of the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska suggest Aleutian tsunamis may occur more frequently than previously understood.
Date published: November 18, 2017
Return to the Alaska Wilderness: USGS Scientists visit one of North America’s fastest-moving faults
A team of USGS scientists spent two weeks in the isolated Glacier Bay National Park, exploring one of the fastest-moving faults in North America.
Attribution: Alaska Science Center
Date published: September 7, 2016
Uncharted: Exploring one of America’s fastest faults
A team of USGS scientists spent 10 days in the wilderness, exploring one of the fastest-moving faults in America