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 Project and the Lower Colorado River System Project in the Geology, Minerals, Energy, & Geophysics Science Center. His research is focused on geologic mapping, structural geology, neotectonics, and geomorphology of these and other regions of western North America.
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
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.
Surface displacement distributions for the July 2019 Ridgecrest, California earthquake ruptures
The 2019 Ridgecrest, California earthquake sequence generated surface fault rupture along two orthogonal cross faults, including the dominantly left-lateral and northeast-striking Mw6.4 rupture and dominantly right-lateral and northwest-striking Mw7.1 rupture. We present >650 field-based surface-displacement observations for these ruptures,...
Duross, Christopher; Gold, Ryan D.; Dawson, Timothy E.; Scharer, Katherine; Kendrick, Katherine; Akciz, Sinan; Angster, Stephen J.; Bachhuber, Jeffery; Bacon, Steven; Bennett, Scott E. K.; Blair, Luke; Brooks, Benjamin A.; Bullard, Thomas; Burgess, W. Paul; Chupik, Colin; DeFrisco, Michael; Delano, Jaime; Dolan, James D.; Frost, Erik; Graehl, Nick; Haddon, Elizabeth; Hatem, Alexandra Elise; Hernandez, Janis; Hitchcock, Christopher S.; Hudnut, Kennth; Thompson Jobe, Jessica; Koehler, Richard D; Kozaci, Ozgur; Ladinsky, Tyler C.; Madugo, Christopher; McPhillips, Devin; Milliner, Christopher; Morelan, Alexander; Olson, Brian; Patton, Jason; Philibosian, Belle; Pickering, Alexandra J.; Pierce, Ian; Ponti, Daniel J.; Seitz, Gordon G.; Spangler, Eleanor; Swanson, Brian J.; Thomas, Kate; Treiman, Jerome; Valencia, Francesca; Williams, Alana; Zinke, Robert Global physical controls on estuarine habitat distribution during sea levelchange: Consequences for genetic diversification through time
Determining the extrinsic (physical) factors controlling speciation and diversification of species through time is of key interest in paleontology and evolutionary biology. The role of sea-level change in shaping species richness patterns of marginal marine species has received much attention, but with variable conclusions. Recent work combining...
Dolby, Greer A.; Bedolla, Arturo M.; Bennett, S.; Jacobs, David K. Neotectonic and paleoseismic analysis of the northwest extent of Holocene surface deformation along the Meers Fault, Oklahoma
TheMeers fault (Oklahoma) is one of fewseismogenic structures with evidence for Holocene surface rupture in the stable continental region of North America. The 37-kilometer-long southeast section of the full 54-kilometer-long Meers fault is interpreted to be Holocene active. The 17-kilometer-long northwest section is considered Quaternary active,...
Hornsby, Kristofer T.; Streig, Ashley R.; Bennett, S.; Chang, Jefferson C.; Mahan, Shannon A. Mesozoic to Cenozoic sedimentation, tectonics, and metallogeny of Sonora, Mexico
We will embark on a five-day journey through northern, western, and central Sonora, in which we will see excellent examples of mostly Mesozoic to Cenozoic tectonics, sedimentation, and metallogeny. On Day 1, we will visit the porphyry copper deposit at Ajo, Arizona, and several Pleistocene cinder cones and maar craters in the Pinacate Biosphere...
Price, Jason; Calmus, Thierry; Bennett, S.; Ochoa-Landín, Lucas 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.