Scott EK Bennett, Ph.D.
Scott is a Research Geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He works for the Pacific Northwest Geologic Mapping and Urban Hazards team in the Geology, Minerals, Energy, & Geophysics Science Center. His research is focused on geologic mapping, structural geology, neotectonics, and geomorphology of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
Biography
Scott Bennett is a Research geologist who combines geologic mapping, structural geology, basin analysis, and geochronology to investigate the timing and rates of crustal deformation. His interdisciplinary and collaborative research focuses on quantifying surface and crustal processes that yield insight into lithospheric-scale plate tectonic systems.
Scott studies the deformation and evolving landscape of continents, collecting data that allows him to reconstruct tectonic movements over a large range of temporal and spatial scales, from earthquakes to orogenies and from faults to plate boundaries. Scott has experience conducting research in the Cascadia subduction zone of the Pacific Northwest (USA and Canada), on both margins of the Gulf of California oblique rift, along the San Andreas fault system, within the Walker Lane, and across the Basin and Range including the Rio Grande Rift.
Professional Experience:
- Research Geologist -- Tectonics and Geologic Mapping -- USGS Menlo Park, CA; 2017-present
- Research Geologist -- Tectonics, Paleoseismology, and Geologic Mapping -- USGS Seattle, WA; 2015-2017
- Mendenhall Post-doc -- Paleoseismology and Earthquake Hazards -- USGS Golden, CO; 2013-2015
- Graduate Student Researcher -- Tectonics, Neotectonics, and Geologic Mapping -- University of California, Davis; 2009-2013
- Exploration Geology Intern -- Basin Analysis and Tectonics -- Aera Energy; Summer 2011
- Graduate Student Researcher -- Tectonics and Geologic Mapping -- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; 2006-2009
- Engineering Geologist -- Landslide Analysis, Mapping, Paleoseismology, -- GeoConcepts, Inc. & Nolan Associates; 2002-2006
Education:
- Ph.D., Geology, University of California, Davis; 2013
- M.S., Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill; 2009
- B.S., Geological Sciences, California State University, Northridge; 2004
- Minor in Geography, California State University, Northridge; 2004
Invited Talks:
February 2017 University of Washington, Marine Geology and Geophysics Dept
January 2017 Western Washington University, Geology Dept
May 2016 USGS Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Seminar
April 2016 Northern Arizona University, School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability
November 2015 University of Washington, Earth and Space Sciences Dept
September 2015 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Geological Sciences Dept
April 2015 Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting
March 2015 USGS Headquarters, Reston, VA
March 2015 Colorado School of Mines, Department of Geophysics - Heiland Lecture
February 2015 Utah Quaternary Fault Parameters Working Group
January 2015 Basin and Range Province Seismic Hazards Summit
December 2014 USGS Earthquake Science Center
February 2014 Utah Quaternary Fault Parameters Working Group
January 2013 USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center
January 2013 Northern California Geological Society
November 2012 Northern Arizona University, School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability
August 2011 AERA Energy, Bakersfield, CA
March 2007-2011 Prescott College-Kino Bay Center, Sonora, Mexico
CONFERENCE SESSION CONVENER
Miocene to Recent Evolution of the Lower Colorado River Corridor and the Northern Gulf of California
- Conveners: Crow, R., McDougall, K., Bennett, S., Darin, M.
- Geological Society of America (GSA) 2018 Cordillera/Rocky Mountain Section Meeting.
Decadal to Millennial Strain Accumulation at Subduction Zones
- Conveners: Regalla, C., Morell, K., Bennett, S., Leonard, L., Amos, C. and Loveless, J.
- Geological Society of America (GSA) 2017 Annual Meeting.
How Reliable Are Reconstructions and Models of Surface-Rupturing Earthquakes?
- Conveners: Bennett, S., Scharer, K., Lozos, J.
- Seismological Society of America (SSA) 2015 Annual Meeting.
Interplay between Sonoran Desert geology and non-geologic processes
- Conveners: Bennett, S., Darin, M.
- Next Generation Sonora Desert Researchers 2015 Meeting.
Recent Advances and Findings in Earthquake Geology and Paleoseismology
- Conveners: Bennett, S., DuRoss, C.
- Seismological Society of America (SSA) 2014 Annual Meeting.
Controls on Fault Rupture Patterns
- Conveners: Bennett, S., Gold, R., Briggs, R.
- American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2013 Fall Meeting.
The Pacific-North America Plate Boundary Through Time: Translation, Rotation, Erosion, and 4-D Strain
- Conveners: Dorsey, R., Umhoefer, P., Bennett, S., Martín-Barajas, A.
- American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2013 Fall Meeting.
Reconstructing the Pacific-North America Plate Boundary Through Late Cenozoic Time
- Conveners: Bennett, S., Dorsey, R., Oskin, M., Darin, M.
- Geological Society of America (GSA) 2013 Cordillera Section Meeting.
4-D Geologic Evolution of the Gulf of California
- Convener: Bennett, S.
- Next Generation Sonora Desert Researchers 2012 Inaugural Meeting.
Gulf of California-Salton Trough Rift Margin: Recent Findings and Remaining Questions
- Conveners: Bennett, S., Brothers, D., Kluesner, J.
- American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2009 Fall Meeting.
Science and Products
New Methods for Dating and Sequencing Ancient Earthquakes Along the Wasatch Fault Zone
Release Date: OCTOBER 12, 2018
Complex geologic sites, like those between the fault segments along the Wasatch fault zone in Utah, make the dating and ordering past earthquakes a difficult task. Two new methods were used to make this task easier and to get better results.
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.
Holocene surface rupture history of an active forearc fault redefines seismic hazard in Southwestern British Columbia, Canada
Characterizing the hazard associated with Quaternary‐active faults in the forearc crust of the northern Cascadia subduction zone has proven challenging due to historically low rates of seismicity, late Quaternary glacial scouring, and dense vegetation that often obscures fault‐related geomorphic features. We couple lidar topography with...
Morell, K. D.; Regalla, C.; Amos, C.; Bennett, S.; Leonard, L.; Graham, A.; Reedy, T.; Levson, V.; Telka, A. 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. Breaching of strike-slip faults and successive flooding of pull-apart basins to form the Gulf of California seaway from ca. 8–6 Ma
The geologic record of the formation of marine basins during continental rifting is uncommonly preserved. Using GIS-based paleotectonic maps, we show that marine basin formation in the Gulf of California–Salton trough oblique rift (Mexico and the United States) occurred in a stepwise manner as crustal thinning lowered elevations within the Gulf of...
Umhoefer, Paul J.; Darin, Michael H.; Bennett, Scott E. K.; Skinner, Lisa A.; Dorsey, Rebecca J.; Oskin, Michael E. Slip history of the La Cruz fault: Development of a late Miocene transformin response to increased rift obliquity in the northern Gulf of California
The Gulf of California rift has accommodated oblique divergence of the Pacific and North America plates in north-western México since Miocene time. Due to its infancy, its rifted margins preserve a rare onshore record of early continental break-up processes and an opportunity to investigate the role of rift obliquity in strain localization. We map...
Bennett, Scott E. K.; Oskin, Michael E.; Iriondo, Alexander; Kunk, Michael J. Influence of the Eastern California Shear Zone on deposition of the Mio-Pliocene Bouse Formation: Insights from the Cibola area, Arizona
The Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) is a wide zone of late Cenozoic strike-slip faults and related diffuse deformation that currently accommodates ~20–25% of relative Pacific–North America plate motion in the lower Colorado River region (Fig. 1A; Dokka and Travis, 1990; Miller et al., 2001; Guest et al., 2007; Mahan et al., 2009). The ECSZ is...
Dorsey, Rebecca J.; O'Connell, Brennan; Homan, Mindy B.; Bennett, Scott E. K. Animated tectonic reconstruction of the Lower Colorado River region: Implications for Late Miocene to Present deformation
Although the majority of late Miocene to present Pacific-North America plate boundary strain has been accommodated by faults of the San Andreas and Gulf of California systems, growing evidence of dextral shear east of the San Andreas Fault indicates that a component of plate boundary deformation occurred in the lower Colorado River (LoCR) region....
Bennett, Scott E. K.; Darin, Michael H.; Dorsey, Rebecca J.; Skinner, Lisa A.; Umhoefer, Paul J.; Oskin, Michael E. Assessing the geologic and climatic forcing of biodiversity and evolution surrounding the Gulf of California
For almost a century the Baja California peninsula (Peninsula), Gulf of California (Gulf), and broader Sonoran Desert region (figure 1) have drawn geologists and biologists alike to study its unique physical and evolutionary processes (e.g., Wittich 1920; Darton 1921; Nelson 1921; Johnston 1924; Beal 1948; Durham and Allison 1960). The challenge...
Dolby, Greer; Bennett, Scott E. K.; Lira-Noriega, Andres; Wilder, Benjamin T.; Munguia-Vega, Adrian A microbial arsenic cycle in sediments of an acidic mine impoundment: Herman Pit, Clear Lake, California
The involvement of prokaryotes in the redox reactions of arsenic occurring between its +5 [arsenate; As(V)] and +3 [arsenite; As(III)] oxidation states has been well established. Most research to date has focused upon circum-neutral pH environments (e.g., freshwater or estuarine sediments) or arsenic-rich “extreme” environments like...
Blum, Jodi S.; McCann, Shelley; Bennett, S.; Miller, Laurence G.; Stolz, J. R.; Stoneburner, B.; Saltikov, C.; Oremland, Ronald S. Stratigraphy and structural development of the southwest Isla Tiburón marine basin: Implications for latest Miocene tectonic opening and flooding of the northern Gulf of California
Accurate information on the timing of earliest marine incursion into the Gulf of California (northwestern México) is critical for paleogeographic models and for understanding the spatial and temporal evolution of strain accommodation across the obliquely divergent Pacific-North America plate boundary. Marine strata exposed on southwest Isla...
Bennett, Scott E. K.; Oskin, Michael; Dorsey, Rebecca; Iriondo, Alexander; Kunk, Michael J. 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, Christopher