CPH Included in New Collaborative Earthquake Study Center 

It's a question of when, not if, a major rupture will occur in the Cascadia subduction zone, unleashing a devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami with potentially catastrophic consequences for a large swath of the Pacific coastline.

Stretching nearly 600 miles from British Columbia to Cape Mendocino, the megathrust fault has a long history of activity but has not revealed its full potential for wreaking destruction near and far in more than three centuries.

The last time was in 1700, based on geological evidence and written records in Japan of the so-called "orphan" tsunami that hit the shores there without warning. And, scientists believe, another one on a similar scale is due.

For the next five years, an academic collaboration between 16 universities, including Cal Poly Humboldt, will be the first in the nation to focus on subduction zone earthquakes, which occur when one tectonic plate slides under another, carrying the capacity of reaching magnitudes in the range of 8 to 9.

Called the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center, or CRESCENT, the program funded by a $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation will concentrate on three main areas: broadening scientific understanding about the slumbering tectonic giant lurking off the coast, working to increase diversity in the field of geoscience and expanding community preparation for the next "big one."

By bringing together a broad array of scientists in the highly specialized field, the unique partnership is "going to have tremendous long-term benefits" on a number of levels, according to Harvey Kelsey, a research associate in CPH's Geology Department. Those include understanding and better communicating "the earthquake hazard in our subduction zone," as well as "training the next generation of earthquake geologists, who we anticipate will include more diversity of backgrounds."

Much of what is currently known, he says, has only emerged in the last 30 years or so.

Diego Melgar, an associate professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oregon and the director of the new center, agreed.

"The main goal of the center is to bring together the large group of geoscientists working in Cascadia to march together to the beat of a singular drum," he says in an announcement on the center's creation. "The center organizes us, focuses collaboration and identifies key priorities, rather than these institutions competing."

CPH's inclusion as an associated institution was a natural fit, according to Kelsey, with research at the campus already contributing to groundbreaking knowledge about the Cascadia subduction zone, as well as the university's commitment to advancing opportunities for traditionally underrepresented students.

"Humboldt may have been involved because of the science but we also are involved because of our specific interest in the geoscience education inclusion component of the grant," Kelsey says.

CPH, which he notes was involved in CRESCENT's inception "from the get-go" by helping write parts of the grant proposal, will have an integral role in those two pillars of the center's mission.

On the science side, Kelsey says, CPH will be intricately involved with a working group addressing paleoseismology, or the study of past earthquakes in the subduction zone.

One aspect of that, he says, will be a "set of field campaigns over the course of the next five summers to specifically get more data on the type of sea level changes that occur during subduction zone earthquakes, because those sea level changes are the way in which we record history, because a rapid sea level change on a coast will leave a geologic record."

Another part, Kelsey says, will be based on the work of Eileen Hemphill-Haley, a fellow research associate in the Geology Department, who specializes in single cell organisms called diatoms that live in saltwater, brackish water and freshwater and "have characteristic habitats in the soils" of these different environments.

Analyzing diatoms found in sedimentary deposits left by a seismic event can help reconstruct the impacts of previous earthquakes.

"So when we look at these sea level changes as recorded in tidal mud and tidal marsh deposits, it is the diatoms that tell us how much land vertically uplifted or down dropped, and that will tell us something about the size of that particular subduction zone earthquake," Kelsey says.

As part of the CRESCENT collaboration, Hemphill-Haley will be putting together an atlas of diatoms that live in different types of environments, which will be available online to further research in the area.

"In some sense, it's a very arcane and unknown specialty but in another sense, it's a very useful one ... . You read the amount of land level change that happens during earthquakes," Kelsey says.

An equally important component of CPH's contribution, Kelsey notes, will be efforts to encourage a new and more diverse generation to take on the seismic research mantle.

That will include offering training courses based out of Humboldt in which students will be able to do field work for a week, followed by another week of lab analysis with some computer modeling.

Those courses, he says, will be focused on engaging students from underrepresented groups, including first generation students and students of color, "who haven't had these experiences in the past."

Another program will partner students with a mentor over an entire academic year to research a topic in the field.

What makes the CRESCENT grant special, Kelsey says, is that these education opportunities come with stipends as well as academic support to encourage a diverse group of students to apply, noting "we need that larger representation" in the geosciences.

"The way to move forward in a more representative, fair and diverse way is to fund people who are qualified," he says. "That is the part Humboldt is going to be making a new and strong contribution to, as well as the science."

Kimberly Wear (she/her) is the Journal's digital editor. Reach her at (707) 442-1300, extension 323, or kim@ northcoastjournal.com.