Jenna C. Hill

A great partnership leads to great science! 🧪⚒️🌊

Read our new paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

ICYMI: Our #USGS #scicomm put together a great video about our research into #earthquake records in the Cascadia subduction zone. 🧪⚒️🌊

You can read our new paper in Science Advances here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I’ve enticed our geophysicists into working in the sediment core lab…but they’re still on probation lol. 😉

MBARI’s advanced underwater technology reveals history of earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest • MBARI A new research publication, led by the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, used MBARI’s advanced technology to map the distribution of deposits left on the abyssal seafloor after an earthq...

Also, a big shout out to my #USGS and #MBARI colleagues! Collaborating on this project allows us to both work with a great team of scientists and provides access to cutting edge tools like @mbarinews.bsky.social AUVs and ROVs that offer unprecedented views of the deep seafloor. 🧪⚒️🌊

Cascadia Subduction Zone Marine Geohazards Societal Issue: Uncertainty related to rupture extent, slip distribution, and recurrence of past subduction megathrust earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest (northern CA, OR, WA, and southern BC) leads...

This study is part of a much larger USGS effort to characterize geologic records of past earthquakes and reduce uncertainties in earthquake recurrence estimates that are used seismic hazard models. 🧪⚒️🌊

Read more about our project here:

www.usgs.gov/centers/pcms...

Overall, this study changes the focus of how the scientific community studies prehistoric earthquakes in a subduction zone, reduces the uncertainties in the timing and frequency of large subduction zone earthquakes, and offers new opportunities to develop global earthquake records.🧪⚒️🌊

A new geologic model for subduction zone marine paleoseismology. See https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx6028 for details.

We propose a new geologic model for subduction zone marine paleoseismology that emphasizes uplift & recycling of the abyssal seafloor. Accretion and oversteepening on the lower slope sets the stage for landslides and provides a perpetual source of material to fail during each earthquake cycle.
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We think these landslides, which happen on the steep base of continental slopes, are happening along subduction zones globally. This means we should be able to find similar landslide deposits and associated marine turbidites in many places around the world.
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The punctuated timing of these underwater landslides also suggests evidence for seafloor movement during large earthquakes, similar to what was observed during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. If this were to happen in Cascadia, it could enhance tsunami hazards across the region. 🧪⚒️🌊

Our results show the links landslide scars on the lower slope, large debris deposits and abyssal turbidites. By clarifying how and where earthquake triggered turbidites are generated, our results improve confidence in using these deposits to reconstruct long-term earthquake histories. 🧪⚒️🌊

Our study shows that large megathrust earthquakes generate widespread landslides on the seafloor, with characteristic deposits called turbidites that can reliably be used to reconstruct earthquake history. 🧪⚒️🌊

Check out this USGS video describing our new findings:

AUV Bathymetry and subbottom data across landslides on the deformation front in the Cascadia subduction zone. See https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx6028 for more details.

Our research team from USGS & MBARI used autonomous underwater& remotely operated vehicles to collect detailed seafloor bathymetry, sediment cores and subbottom data. Together, these data allow us to examine the shape of the seafloor and the layers of sediment beneath that record earth history. 🧪⚒️🌊

Widespread abyssal turbidites record megathrust earthquake-triggered landslides and coseismic deformation in the Cascadia subduction zone Lower slope failures produce abyssal turbidites that record shaking and coseismic deformation during megathrust earthquakes.

Our new paper on earthquake records in the Cascadia Subduction Zone is out today!

The goal of our work is to reduce uncertainty in the timing and frequency of large earthquakes by investigating how and where subduction earthquake-triggered deposits are formed. 🧪⚒️🌊

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

😆 Indeed! Don’t worry, we’ve had plenty of rain/fog days too!

⚒️🧪🌊Check out some sweet footage of our Alaska work for #FieldworkFriday:

fb.watch/E5OENYnwwA/?...

(Alas USGS is not on BlueSky 🦋 so you’ll have to check it out elsewhere)

Felt a cute little pair of shakers in Santa Cruz

Copper River delta, Alaska. So much sediment!!

View of Copper River Delta, Alaska with airplane wing.

View of Copper River Delta, Alaska from airplane.

Always!

New seafloor mapping offshore Kodiak Island, Alaska, reveals extensive submarine landslides In summer 2025, a research team led by the USGS worked with the NOAA ship Rainier to map a large swath of seafloor offshore of Kodiak Island, Alaska, along the Alaska-Aleutian Trench.

New seafloor mapping offshore Alaska in the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone! #USGS #NOAA #MarineGeohazards 🧪⚒️🌊

YouTube video by Alaska Earthquake Center Early View of Tracy Arm Landslide Features

Alaska Earthquake Center posted a nice explainer video with some of the video reconnaissance following the recent #landslide and #tsunami in Tracy Arm, south of Juneau, Alaska. It’s a whopper! 🧪⚒️

the California Geological Survey has prepared a survey to gather your observations from the M8.8 Kamchatka, Russia Tsunami

If you have been able to make any observations of the tsunami or of the evidence left behind by tsunami, we want your information:

survey123.arcgis.com/share/76979d...

It’s important to point out that this is because Crescent City,CA is expected to see higher wave heights due to the local topography/bathymetry and focusing of the wave energy.

“Friends please be aware, a Tsunami is a series of waves carrying a large extra mass of water to our coast. This will NOT be a single wave. Do NOT try to go to the coast to take photos. You're not just putting yourself at risk, you will also put the people that have to rescue you at risk.”

An important reminder from the US National Weather service regarding the US west coast tsunami advisories following today’s M8.8 Kamchatka quake:

The Ecosystems Mission area is a major component of the USGS Alaska Science Center, along with Earthquake, Landslide and Volcano Hazards, Energy & Minerals - these folks are hard working scientists who do great work. 🧪⚒️

“NPR reached out to the Office of Management and Budget to confirm the planned cut. In an email, a spokesperson replied, the EMA is, quote, "obviously irrelevant to science and is exactly the kind of waste President Trump ran on rooting out of the federal government."”
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🔊 Listen Now: This federal program helps track America's ecosystems. Trump's budget would gut it All Things Considered on NPR One | 5:02

The USGS is the only non-regulatory federal agency with a mission to conduct science in the public interest.

The President’s FY26 budget aims to zero out the Ecosystems Mission Area. The quote from the NPR story below shocked me.

See what they do: geonarrative.usgs.gov/ecosystemsmi...

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@anthropoceneman.bsky.social Some samples to go with your word of the day.

Ooh I do love a good turbidite!

Oof, yeah the weather is gnarly today!

We are in Prince William Sound. 🏔️