My recent USGS Mendenhall postdoctoral research was focused on analyzing airborne lidar and constructing new paleoseismic datasets along the Wasatch fault zone to test if surface ruptures from late Quaternary earthquakes have spanned fault segment boundaries.

This research is currently being highlighted on the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program webpage.

Wasatch fault zone strip map (above)

Fault segment boundaries (yellow arrows)

Previous trench sites (white stars)

New trench sites related to my postdoctoral research (yellow stars)

Fault trace mapping on new airborne lidar

Detailed fault mapping on 0.5 m-pixel lidar topographic data reveals evidence for previously unidentified fault strands of the Wasatch fault near the stepover between the Provo and Nephi fault segments

mapping by Scott Bennett

 

 

 

Paleoseismic Trenching

The Flat Canyon paleoseismic trench was excavated along the southern Provo segment, Wasatch fault zone

photo by Kate Scharer (USGS)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dating Earthquakes

Paleoseismic trench exposures of active faults allow scientists to bracket the timing of large (~M7) pre-historic earthquakes

Here, I am pointing to the Wasatch fault zone in the Alpine trench (northern Provo segment) 

photo by Rich Briggs (USGS)