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Ryan D Gold, Ph.D.

Ryan Gold is the Director of the Geologic Hazards Science Center (GHSC) of the USGS.

In this position, he oversees GHSC’s efforts focused on earthquake, landslide, and geomagnetic hazards research and monitoring. Gold joined the USGS in 2009 after receiving a doctoral degree in geology from the University of California, Davis and a bachelor’s degree from Whitman College. He joined the USGS as a Mendenhall post-doctoral scholar and was hired permanently in 2011 as a Research Geologist within the Earthquake Geology Project at GHSC.

Gold’s research background focuses on active tectonics and natural hazards, with an emphasis on long-standing problems related to 1) earthquake recurrence and magnitude, 2) fault slip rate, and 3) patterns of surface displacement associated with modern earthquakes by applying a combination of field-based methods (e.g., paleoseismic trenching, neotectonic mapping) and remote sensing (e.g., lidar, satellite imagery, etc.). He has conducted field-based and remotely sensed earthquake studies across the United States, the Caribbean, the Indo-Asia Collision, central Europe, Pakistan, and Australia. He has played a key role in USGS field-based response to significant earthquakes, including the 2010 Haiti, 2013 Balochistan (Pakistan), and 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence. Gold has more than 60 publications in the areas of neotectonics, Quaternary geochronology, seismic imaging, and natural hazards.

Professional Experience

  • 2021-present              Director, Geologic Hazards Science Center, USGS

    2011-2021                  Research Geologist, USGS

    2009-2011                 Mendenhall Postdoctoral Research Fellow, USGS

Education and Certifications

  • Ryan Gold (Ph.D., University of California, Davis 2009)

Science and Products

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map of Alaska area with 2020-2021 earthquakes, showing circles for earthquake locations

External Grants - Overview

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides support for research that will assist in achieving the goals of the Earthquake Hazards Program. The goal is to mitigate earthquake losses that can occur in many parts of the nation by providing earth science data and assessments essential for land-use planning, engineering design, and emergency preparedness decisions.
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program
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External Grants - Overview

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides support for research that will assist in achieving the goals of the Earthquake Hazards Program. The goal is to mitigate earthquake losses that can occur in many parts of the nation by providing earth science data and assessments essential for land-use planning, engineering design, and emergency preparedness decisions.
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New Madrid seismic zone

Geologic Cracks Record Earthquakes on the Reelfoot Fault in Central U.S.

Release Date: APRIL 25, 2019 New high-resolution lidar data reveals cracks produced from strong shaking in past earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone.
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program
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Geologic Cracks Record Earthquakes on the Reelfoot Fault in Central U.S.

Release Date: APRIL 25, 2019 New high-resolution lidar data reveals cracks produced from strong shaking in past earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone.
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Filter Total Items: 18

Fault Rupture Mapping of the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, Earthquake Sequence from Satellite Data

This data release contains two datasets that depict fault rupture on the East Anatolian and Çardak faults resulting from the Mw7.8 and Mw7.5 earthquakes in Turkey (Türkiye). It contains two additional datasets that describe satellite imagery coverage and observation gaps. The 6 February 2023 earthquake sequence caused >500 km of combined surface rupture on the primarily left-lateral strike-slip Ea
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Geochronological Data for the Deep Creek paleoseismic site, Wasatch fault zone, Utah

This data release includes geochronological data for a natural exposure of the Wasatch fault, Utah at the Deep Creek site (39.507462?, -111.861790?). Laboratory data include 11 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages for quartz, 23 charcoal radiocarbon ages, and 342 portable OSL (bulk luminescence) measurements. The radiocarbon and luminescence samples were collected November 2019 and October
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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023, version 1.0

The U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) relies on deformation models to assign slip rates along active faults used in the earthquake rupture forecast. Here, we present the geologic deformation model results in tabular form. We provide model outputs in multiple file formats, as well as the polygons used in analyses throughout the geologic deformation model process.The data presented herein ar
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Geologic Hazards Science Center

Data to accompany the study Quaternary Reelfoot fault deformation in the Obion River valley, Tennessee, USA by Delano et al. (2021)

This data release contains machine-readable files accompanying the study Quaternary Reelfoot fault deformation in the Obion River valley, Tennessee, USA published by Delano et al. (2021) in Tectonics. The data release includes grain size analyses from three auger sites (TableS1_WilsonLoop_grainsize.txt, TableS2_Lanesferry_grainsize.txt, TableS3_BiggsFarm_grainsize.txt) and unit descriptions from t
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Earthquake Hazards Program

Strike-slip in transtension: Complex crustal architecture of the Warm Springs Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane

This data release contains field data for two P-wave seismic reflection profiles acquired across the Warm Springs Valley fault zone, part of the Northern Walker Lane, NV. The dataset consists of high-resolution seismic reflection field records in .segy format, shot coordinates in .csv format, and observers? logs in .pdf format. The high-resolution seismic profiles are approximately 4 km long. The
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Geologic Hazards Science Center

Compilation of offset measurements and fault data for global strike-slip faults with multiple earthquakes

This Data Release provides the compilation of offset measurement datasets and associated fault data to accompany the manuscript "Climatic influence on the expression of strike-slip faulting" by Reitman et al. In addition to a ReadMe file, it includes two tabular datasets, one code, and one text file. The datasets are a compilation of offset measurement data ("data_multiple_eq_offsets.xlsx") from 3
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Geologic Hazards Science Center

Earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (western US) (ver. 2.0, February 2022)

This Data Release contains preliminary versions of two related databases: 1) A fault sections database ('NSHM23_FSD_v2'), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, and 2) An earthquake geology site information database ('NSHM23_EQGeoDB_v2'), which contains fault slip-rate constraints at points. These databases were prepared in anticipation of updates to the N
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Summary of proposed changes to geologic inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023, version 1.0

This data release documents proposed updates to geologic inputs (faults) for the upcoming 2023 National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM). This version (1.0) conveys differences between 2014 NSHM fault sources and those recently released in the earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023, version 1.0 data release by Hatem et al. (2021). A notable difference between t
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Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Displacement and strain field from the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes derived from analysis of WorldView optical satellite imagery (ver. 2.0, May 2021)

This Data Release contains co-seismic horizontal and vertical displacements of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes derived from sub-pixel cross correlation of WorldView satellite optical imagery. Additionally, the dataset contains the 2-dimensionsal (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) surface strain fields, inverted from the surface displacements. Associated publication: Barnhart, W.D., Gold, R.D., Hollingsw
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Coseismic surface displacement and fault zone width measurements in the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes from WorldView optical image correlation

(1) Lateral displacement measurements made based on optical image correlation results from WorldView satellite images along with (2) local and regional rupture width measurements for the 2019 Mw6.4 and Mw7.1 Ridgecrest earthquakes, CA. These datasets are associated with the publication: Gold, R. D., DuRoss, C. B., & Barnhart, W. D., 2021, Coseismic surface displacement in the 2019 Ridgecrest ear
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023, version 1.0

This Data Release contains preliminary versions of two related databases: 1) A fault sections database ("NSHM2023_FaultSections_v1"), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, and 2) An earthquake geology site information database ("NSHM2023_EQGeoDB_v1"), which contains fault slip-rate constraints at points. These databases were prepared in anticipation of up
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Seismic reflection imaging of the low-angle Panamint normal fault system, eastern California, 2018

A fundamental question in seismic hazard analysis is whether
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Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center
A woman makes notes while overlooking earth ruptures in ground on a dirt road
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Filter Total Items: 53

Climatic influence on the expression of strike-slip faulting

Earthquakes on strike-slip faults are preserved in the geomorphic record by offset landforms that span a range of displacements, from small offsets created in the most recent earthquake (MRE) to large offsets that record cumulative slip from multiple prior events. An exponential decay in the number of large cumulative offsets has been observed on many faults, and a leading hypothesis is that clima
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Nadine G. Reitman, Yann Klinger, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Off-fault deformation in regions of complex fault geometries: the 2013, Mw7.7, Baluchistan rupture (Pakistan)

Observations of recent earthquake surface ruptures show that ground deformations include a localized component occurring on faults, and an off-fault component affecting the surrounding medium. This second component is also referred to as off-fault deformation (OFD). The localized component generally occurs on complex networks of faults that connect at depth onto a unique fault plane, whereas OFD c
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Solene Antoine, Yann Klinger, Arthur Delorme, Ryan D. Gold
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023

Fault geometry and slip rates are key input data for geologic deformation models, which are a fundamental component of probabilistic seismic hazard analyses (PSHAs). However, geologic sources for PSHA have traditionally been limited to faults with field‐based slip rate constraints, which results in underrepresentation of known, but partially characterized, active faults. Here, we evaluate fault ge
Authors
Alexandra Elise Hatem, Nadine G. Reitman, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Reed J. Burgette
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Simplifying complex fault data for systems-level analysis: Earthquake geology inputs for U.S. NSHM 2023

As part of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) update planned for 2023, two databases were prepared to more completely represent Quaternary-active faulting across the western United States: the NSHM23 fault sections database (FSD) and earthquake geology database (EQGeoDB). In prior iterations of NSHM, fault sections were included only if a field-measurement-derived slip rate was estimate
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Alexandra Elise Hatem, Camille Marie Collett, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold, Stephen J. Angster, Edward H. Field, Peter M. Powers
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Earthquake Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Luminescence sediment tracing reveals the complex dynamics of colluvial wedge formation

Paleoearthquake studies that inform seismic hazard rely on assumptions of sediment transport that remain largely untested. Here, we test a widespread conceptual model and a new numerical model on the formation of colluvial wedges, a key deposit used to constrain the timing of paleoearthquakes. We perform this test by applying luminescence, a sunlight-sensitive sediment tracer, at a field site disp
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Harrison J. Gray, Christopher DuRoss, Sylvia Nicovich, Ryan D. Gold
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

A geomorphic-process-based cellular automata model of colluvial wedge morphology and stratigraphy

The development of colluvial wedges at the base of fault scarps following normal-faulting earthquakes serves as a sedimentary record of paleoearthquakes and is thus crucial in assessing seismic hazard. Although there is a large body of observations of colluvial wedge development, connecting this knowledge to the physics of sediment transport can open new frontiers in our understanding. To explore
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Harrison J. Gray, Christopher DuRoss, Sylvia Nicovich, Ryan D. Gold
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center

How similar was the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake rupture to its surface-faulting predecessors along the northern Lost River fault zone (Idaho, USA)?

We excavated trenches at two paleoseismic sites bounding a trans-basin bedrock ridge (the Willow Creek Hills) along the northern Lost River fault zone to explore the uniqueness of the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake compared to its prehistoric predecessors. At the Sheep Creek site on the southernmost Warm Springs section, two earthquakes occurred at 9.8−14.0 ka (95% confidence) and 6.5−7.1 ka; e
Authors
Christopher DuRoss, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Austin John Elliott, Jaime Delano, Ivan Medina-Cascales, Harrison J. Gray, Shannon A. Mahan, Sylvia Nicovich, Zachery Lifton, Emily J. Kleber, Greg N. McDonald, Adam Hiscock, Mike Bunds, Nadine G. Reitman
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Portable optically stimulated luminescence age map of a paleoseismic exposure

The quality and quantity of geochronologic data used to constrain the history of major earthquakes in a region exerts a first-order control on the accuracy of seismic hazard assessments that affect millions of people. However, evaluations of geochronological data are limited by uncertainties related to inherently complex depositional processes that may vary spatially and temporally. To improve con
Authors
Christopher DuRoss, Ryan D. Gold, Harrison J. Gray, Sylvia R. Nicovich
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

STEPS: Slip time earthquake path simulations applied to the San Andreas and Toe Jam Hill Faults to redefine geologic slip rate uncertainty

Geologic slip rates are a time-averaged measurement of fault displacement calculated over hundreds to million-year time scales and are a primary input for probabilistic seismic hazard analyses, which forecast expected ground shaking in future earthquakes. Despite their utility for seismic hazard calculations, longer-term geologic slip rates represent a time-averaged measure of the tempo of strain
Authors
Alexandra Elise Hatem, Ryan D. Gold, Richard W. Briggs, Katherine Scharer, Edward H. Field
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Earthquake Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Geophysical constraints on the crustal architecture of the transtensional Warm Springs Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane, western Nevada, USA

The Walker Lane is a zone of distributed transtension where normal faults are overprinted by strike-slip motion. We use two newly-acquired high-resolution seismic reflection profiles and a reprocessed Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling (COCORP) deep crustal reflection profile to assess the subsurface geometry of the Holocene-active, transtensional Warm Springs Valley fault zone (WSVFZ
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Richard W. Briggs, William J. Stephenson, J.H. McBride, Jackson K. Odum, Nadine G. Reitman, Ryan D. Gold
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Diffuse deformation and surface faulting distribution from sub-metric image correlation along the 2019 Ridgecrest ruptures (California, USA)

The 2019 Mw 6.4 and 7.1 Ridgecrest, California, earthquake sequence (July 2019) ruptured consecutively a system of high‐angle strike‐slip cross faults (northeast‐ and northwest‐trending) within 34 hr. The complex rupture mechanism was illuminated by seismological and geodetic data, bringing forward the issue of the interdependency of the two fault systems both at depth and at the surface, and of i
Authors
Solène L. Antoine, Yann Klinger, Arthur Delorme, Kang Wang, Roland Burgmann, Ryan D. Gold
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Quaternary reelfoot fault deformation in the Obion River Valley, Tennessee, USA

Blind reverse faults are challenging to detect, and earthquake records can be elusive because deep fault slip does not break the surface along readily recognized scarps. The blind Reelfoot fault in the New Madrid seismic zone in the central United States has been the subject of extensive prior investigation; however, the extent of slip at the southern portion of the fault remains unconstrained. In
Authors
Jaime Delano, Richard W. Briggs, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Ryan D. Gold, Simon E. Engelhart
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Geologic Hazards Science Center

STEPS: Slip Time Earthquake Path Simulations applied to the San Andreas and Toe Jam Hill faults to redefine geologic slip rate uncertainty (Matlab code)

Geologic slip rates are a time-averaged measurement of fault displacement calculated over 100s- to 1,000,000-year time scales and are a primary input for probabilistic seismic hazard analyses (PSHA), which forecast expected ground shaking in future earthquakes. Despite their utility for seismic hazard calculations, longer-term geologic slip rates represent a time-averaged measure of the tempo of s
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Geologic Hazards Science Center

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