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Uri ten Brink, PhD

My research focuses on quantifying tectonic and morphological processes and their impacts on the assessments of tsunami, landslide, and earthquake hazards. I am also interested in bridging gaps between disciplines in earth sciences. I am the Project Chief of the USGS Marine Geohazards Sources and Probability Project and in charge of the USGS Ocean Bottom Seismometers.

FIELD EXPERIENCE

41 cruises (26 as chief scientist)

3 over-ice land traverses, Antarctica (co-chief scientist)

4 Airborne magnetic, land gravity, and land seismic surveys (co-chief scientist)

Professional Experience

  • 1991-present    Research geophysicist, USGS, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

  • 2015-2019        Editor in Chief, Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth

  • 1999-present    Adjunct Scientist, The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

  • 2013-2016  Professor and Chairman, Department of Marine Geosciences, University of Haifa

  • 2016-present   Affiliate Professor, University of Haifa

Education and Certifications

  • 1981-1986       Ph.D.   Geological Sciences Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University

  • 1977-1980       B.Sc.   Geology and Physics, The Hebrew University, Israel

  • 1991-1996  Consulting Associate Professor, Stanford University

  • 1987-1991  Post-doctoral scholar, Stanford University

  • 1986-1987       Post-doctoral scholar, Tel Aviv University
     

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • Chairman, U.S.-Israel Bi-National Science Foundation panel for Earth and Atmospheric sciences, 2015
     

  • Member - Netherlands Science Foundation panel on Caribbean natural and social sciences, 2014

  • Member, ITU-WMO-UNESCO/IOC Joint Task Force on Submarine Cables for Tsunami Warnings and Scientific Research, 2013

  • Co-convenor, Workshop on landslide tsunami probability, 2011

  • Member, NSF panel evaluating the management structure of the ocean bottom seismometer facilities, 2011

  • Guest editor- Marine Geology "Assessment of tsunami hazards to the U.S. Atlantic coast", 2009

Honors and Awards

  • 2016 – Fellow, American Geophysical Union

  • 2010 – Senior Scientist (ST), Federal government

  • 2007/8 – Distinguished Lecturer – Seismological Society of America/ IRIS

  • 1996 - Fellow, Geological Society of America

  • 1990 - Royal Society of New Zealand annual prize for Geophysics

Science and Products

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Perspective view of the seafloor of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Puerto Rico Natural Hazards: Tsunamis | Peligros naturales de Puerto Rico: Maremotos

Tsunamis are long waves formed from a sudden displacement of the sea floor due to a fault rupture, landslide, or volcanic activity. Given that Puerto Rico lies above a subduction zone in the Caribbean Sea, it is especially susceptible to large earthquakes and tsunamis. The greatest tsunami ever recorded in Puerto Rico occurred from an earthquake off the Mona Passage in 1918. The USGS Earthquake...
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Natural Hazards
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Puerto Rico Natural Hazards: Tsunamis | Peligros naturales de Puerto Rico: Maremotos

Tsunamis are long waves formed from a sudden displacement of the sea floor due to a fault rupture, landslide, or volcanic activity. Given that Puerto Rico lies above a subduction zone in the Caribbean Sea, it is especially susceptible to large earthquakes and tsunamis. The greatest tsunami ever recorded in Puerto Rico occurred from an earthquake off the Mona Passage in 1918. The USGS Earthquake...
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land movement

Puerto Rico Natural Hazards: Earthquakes | Peligros naturales de Puerto Rico: Terremotos

USGS provides real-time earthquake data, information on historic earthquakes, resources for the most significant earthquakes, and seismicity and ground motions to support future updates to the seismic hazard models for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our seismic research can help establish better building regulations that mitigate earthquake risks and improve public safety. The USGS...
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Natural Hazards, Natural Hazards
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Puerto Rico Natural Hazards: Earthquakes | Peligros naturales de Puerto Rico: Terremotos

USGS provides real-time earthquake data, information on historic earthquakes, resources for the most significant earthquakes, and seismicity and ground motions to support future updates to the seismic hazard models for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our seismic research can help establish better building regulations that mitigate earthquake risks and improve public safety. The USGS...
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A boat floating on calm, shallow waters with mountains far off in the distance.

Seismic Reflection and Refraction Methods

Seismic reflection and refraction methods are major tools in natural hazard assessments. Useful tools were developed to aid in processing and modeling of these data.
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Seismic Reflection and Refraction Methods

Seismic reflection and refraction methods are major tools in natural hazard assessments. Useful tools were developed to aid in processing and modeling of these data.
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Map of the North American - Caribbean tectonic plate boundary

Quantifying Morphological Processes

Quantifying Morphological Processes lays the foundation for a better assessment of landslide hazard and sediment transport for resource utilization.
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Quantifying Morphological Processes

Quantifying Morphological Processes lays the foundation for a better assessment of landslide hazard and sediment transport for resource utilization.
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Map of the North American - Caribbean tectonic plate boundary

Tectonic Processes

Geophysical research utilizes analytical and numerical tools to quantify tectonic processes. Basic geophysical research lays the ground for understanding of Earth processes, which affect natural hazards and resource estimation.
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Tectonic Processes

Geophysical research utilizes analytical and numerical tools to quantify tectonic processes. Basic geophysical research lays the ground for understanding of Earth processes, which affect natural hazards and resource estimation.
Learn More
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Map of  Relative Coastal Vulnerability for Virgin Islands National Park.

Significant Earthquakes on a major fault system in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Lesser Antilles, 1500–2010: Implications for Seismic Hazard

Earthquakes have been documented in the northeastern Caribbean since the arrival of Columbus to the Americas; written accounts of these felt earthquakes exist in various parts of the world. To better understand the earthquake cycle in the Caribbean, the records of earthquakes in earlier catalogs and historical documents from various archives, which are now available online, were critically...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Significant Earthquakes on a major fault system in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Lesser Antilles, 1500–2010: Implications for Seismic Hazard

Earthquakes have been documented in the northeastern Caribbean since the arrival of Columbus to the Americas; written accounts of these felt earthquakes exist in various parts of the world. To better understand the earthquake cycle in the Caribbean, the records of earthquakes in earlier catalogs and historical documents from various archives, which are now available online, were critically...
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Side view of the uniformly tilted carbonate platform and the narrow shelf north of Puerto Rico

Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies- Models

The Puerto Rico trench exhibits great water depth, extremely low gravity anomaly, and a tilted carbonate platform between (reconstructed) elevations of +1300 m and -4000 m. we suggest that these features are manifestations of large vertical movements of a segment of the Puerto Rico Trench, its forearc, and the island of Puerto Rico that took place 3.3 m.y. ago over a time period as short as 14-40...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies- Models

The Puerto Rico trench exhibits great water depth, extremely low gravity anomaly, and a tilted carbonate platform between (reconstructed) elevations of +1300 m and -4000 m. we suggest that these features are manifestations of large vertical movements of a segment of the Puerto Rico Trench, its forearc, and the island of Puerto Rico that took place 3.3 m.y. ago over a time period as short as 14-40...
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Perspective view of the edge of the carbonate platform.

Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies-Tsunami Potential

Newly-acquired multibeam bathymetry of the entire Puerto Rico trench reveals numerous retrograde slope failures at various scales at the edge of the carbonate platform north of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The slumped material comprises carbonate blocks, which are cohesive and the edge of the carbonate platform is steeper than most continental slopes, resulting in a higher potential runup...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies-Tsunami Potential

Newly-acquired multibeam bathymetry of the entire Puerto Rico trench reveals numerous retrograde slope failures at various scales at the edge of the carbonate platform north of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The slumped material comprises carbonate blocks, which are cohesive and the edge of the carbonate platform is steeper than most continental slopes, resulting in a higher potential runup...
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Static stress change models

Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies- Stress Changes and Earthquake Hazard

Strike-slip faults in the forearc region of a subduction zone often present significant seismic hazard because of their proximity to population centers. We explore the interaction between thrust events on the subduction interface and strike-slip faults within the forearc region using 3-D models of static Coulomb stress change.
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies- Stress Changes and Earthquake Hazard

Strike-slip faults in the forearc region of a subduction zone often present significant seismic hazard because of their proximity to population centers. We explore the interaction between thrust events on the subduction interface and strike-slip faults within the forearc region using 3-D models of static Coulomb stress change.
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Shaded relief and combined bathymetry map of Puerto Rico

Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies- Seafloor Map

To help understand the origin of the unusual bathymetry, gravity, and vertical tectonics of the plate boundary and to provide constraints for hazard assessment, the morphology of the entire 770-km-long trench from the Dominican Republic in the west to Anguilla in the east was mapped with multibeam echosounder during three cruises in 2002 and 2003. Parts of the Puerto Rico Trench were previously...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies- Seafloor Map

To help understand the origin of the unusual bathymetry, gravity, and vertical tectonics of the plate boundary and to provide constraints for hazard assessment, the morphology of the entire 770-km-long trench from the Dominican Republic in the west to Anguilla in the east was mapped with multibeam echosounder during three cruises in 2002 and 2003. Parts of the Puerto Rico Trench were previously...
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3D computer image shows corrugations beneath the seafloor where tectonic plates move past each other.

Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are located at an active plate boundary between the North American plate and the northeast corner of the Caribbean plate. Plate movements have caused large magnitude earthquakes and devastating tsunamis. The USGS has an ongoing program to identify and map the faults in this region using various geophysical and geological methods in order to estimate the location...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Caribbean Tsunami and Earthquake Hazards Studies

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are located at an active plate boundary between the North American plate and the northeast corner of the Caribbean plate. Plate movements have caused large magnitude earthquakes and devastating tsunamis. The USGS has an ongoing program to identify and map the faults in this region using various geophysical and geological methods in order to estimate the location...
Learn More
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Topographic Map of the Middle East

Peace and Science in the Middle East

This project is complete and the website is archived and no longer updated.The ancient cultures of the Middle East and the modern political conflicts there are shaped by a surprisingly diverse and youthful landscape. The landscape of the region is dominated by a narrow elongate (20-30 km wide) valley, that is surrounded by the western highlands of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the...
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Peace and Science in the Middle East

This project is complete and the website is archived and no longer updated.The ancient cultures of the Middle East and the modern political conflicts there are shaped by a surprisingly diverse and youthful landscape. The landscape of the region is dominated by a narrow elongate (20-30 km wide) valley, that is surrounded by the western highlands of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the...
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Multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data collected in the eastern Gulf of Alaska during USGS Field Activity 2016-625-FA using a Reson 7160 multibeam echosounder

Marine geophysical mapping of the Queen Charlotte Fault in the eastern Gulf of Alaska was conducted in 2016 as part of a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to understand the morphology and subsurface geology of the entire Queen Charlotte system. The Queen Charlotte fault is the offshore portion of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Multichannel seismic-reflection and navigation data collected using SIG ELC1200 and Applied Acoustics Delta Sparkers and Geometrics GeoEel digital streamers during USGS field activity 2020-014-FA.

In March 2020, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM) Department of Marine Sciences conducted a marine seismic-reflection experiment focused on observing geophysical evidence of submarine faulting and mass wasting related to the southwestern Puerto Rico seismic sequence of 2019-20. The seismic sequence culminated with a magnitude 6.4 earthquake centered beneat
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Multibeam and multichannel sparker seismic-reflection data between Cross Sound and Dixon Entrance, offshore southeastern Alaska, collected from 2016-05-17 to 2016-06-12 during field activity 2016-625-FA

Multibeam bathymetry and multisparker data were collected along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault between Icy Point and Dixon Entrance, offshore southeastern Alaska from 2016-05-17 to 2016-06-12.
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Gravity maps of the Dead Sea basin

Filter Total Items: 136

Systematic mapping of the ocean-continent transform plate boundary of the Queen Charlotte fault system, southeastern Alaska and western British Columbia—A preliminary bathymetric terrain model

In 2015, U.S. Geological Survey scientists in collaboration with scientists from other institutions began a study of the Queen Charlotte fault—the first systematic study of the fault in more than three decades. The primary goal of the study was to gain a better understanding of the earthquake, tsunami, and underwater-landslide hazards throughout southeastern Alaska, as well as gather data to devel
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Mature diffuse tectonic block boundary revealed by the 2020 southwestern Puerto Rico seismic sequence

Distributed faulting typically tends to coalesce into one or a few faults with repeated deformation. The progression of clustered medium-sized (≥Mw4.5) earthquakes during the 2020 seismic sequence in southwestern Puerto Rico (SWPR), modeling shoreline subsidence from InSAR, and sub-seafloor mapping by high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, suggest that the 2020 SWPR seismic sequence was dist

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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Earthquake magnitude distributions on northern Caribbean faults from combinatorial optimization models

On-fault earthquake magnitude distributions are calculated for northern Caribbean faults using estimates of fault slip and regional seismicity parameters. Integer programming, a combinatorial optimization method, is used to determine the optimal spatial arrangement of earthquakes sampled from a truncated Gutenberg-Richter distribution that minimizes the global misfit in slip rates on a complex fau

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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

On the use of statistical analysis to understand submarine landslide processes and assess their hazard

Because of their inaccessibility, submarine landslides are typically studied individually and at great effort and expense to provide knowledge of the specific site conditions where these landslides occur. Statistical analysis of submarine landslide scars can offer generalized perspectives on the processes that initiate submarine landslides and can help toward hazard assessment in areas that have n
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

The role of pre-magmatic rifting in shaping a volcanic continental margin: An example from the Eastern North American Margin

Both magmatic and tectonic processes contribute to the formation of volcanic continental margins. Such margins are thought to undergo extension across a narrow zone of lithospheric thinning (~100 km). New observations based on existing and reprocessed data from the Eastern North American Margin contradict this hypothesis. With ~64,000 km of 2‐D seismic data tied to 40 wells combined with published
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Numerical characterization of cohesive and non-cohesive ‘sediments’ under different consolidation states using 3D DEM triaxial experiments

The Discrete Element Method has been widely used to simulate geo-materials due to time and scale limitations met in the field and laboratories. While cohesionless geo-materials were the focus of many previous studies, the deformation of cohesive geo-materials in 3D remained poorly characterized. Here, we aimed to generate a range of numerical ‘sediments’, assess their mechanical response to stress
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Mysterious tsunami in the Caribbean Sea following the 2010 Haiti earthquake possibly generated by dynamically triggered early aftershocks

Dynamically triggered offshore aftershocks, caused by passing seismic waves from main shocks located on land, are currently not considered in tsunami warnings. The M7.0 2010 Haiti earthquake epicenter was located on land 27 km north of the Caribbean Sea and its focal mechanism was oblique strike-slip. Nevertheless, a tsunami recorded on a Caribbean Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (D

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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Along-strike segmentation in the northern Caribbean plate boundary zone (Hispaniola sector): Tectonic implications

The North American (NOAM) plate converges with the Caribbean (CARIB) plate at a rate of 20.0 ± 0.4 mm/yr. towards 254 ± 1°. Plate convergence is highly oblique (20–10°), resulting in a complex crustal boundary with along-strike segmentation, strain partitioning and microplate tectonics. We study the oblique convergence of the NOAM and CARIB plates between southeastern Cuba to northern Puerto Rico

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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Semi-automated bathymetric spectral decomposition delineates the impact of mass wasting on the morphological evolution of the continental slope, offshore Israel

Understanding continental slope morphological evolution is essential for predicting depositional systems and reservoirs in the adjacent basin. However, present-day slope seafloor-morphology is complicated by shaping processes, which are not readily separable through pure bathymetric analysis. This study aims to explore the utility of bathymetric spectral decomposition in order to separate and char
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Offshore landslide hazard curves from mapped landslide size distributions

We present a method to calculate landslide hazard curves along offshore margins based on size distributions of submarine landslides. The method analyzes ten different continental margins, that were mapped by high-resolution multibeam sonar with landslide scar areas measured by a consistent GIS procedure. Statistical tests of several different probability distribution models indicate that the logno
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

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 absence of high-resolution seafloor mapping data. Hence

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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

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 folds, whereas the 49‐mm/yr PA/NA relative plate mot
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

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Rapid-response seismic reflection survey to identify the fault sources of the southwestern Puerto Rico seismic sequence

Intense seismic activity started in southwestern Puerto Rico on December 28, 2019 and is continuing to the present time.

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USGS Scientists Find Seafloor Faults Near Puerto Rico Quakes’ Epicenters

Most residents of southern Puerto Rico were startled by the sequence of earthquakes that began Dec. 28, 2019 and included a magnitude 6.4 quake on Jan...

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Imaging Israel’s Dead Sea Fault to Understand How Continents Stretch and Rift

Imaging a fault to learn more about tectonic plate motion and improve understanding of hazards

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Most-Cited Award for Marine Geology Special Issue: “Tsunami Hazard along the U.S. Atlantic Coast”

This USGS-led special issue was published in 2009 and was among the journal’s three most-cited special issues in 2016 and 2017.

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USGS Scientists Elected as AGU Fellows

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) will honor newly elected fellows at the upcoming 2016 Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

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Map of seismic research site on seafloor off Puerto Rico
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USGS technicians launch "sparker" used in seafloor mapping
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Scientist on research vessel prepares to launch hydrophone
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Marine technician deploy a hydrophone off Puerto Rico
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Map of Caribbean Sea/Atlantic Ocean showing locations of cores taken in the deep waters of the Puerto Rico trench
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Science and Products

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government