The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $261,123 Project Grant under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) to the University of Oregon (UO) to conduct a comprehensive study of the Cascadia subduction zone, focusing on seismic and tsunami activity around the year 1700 CE. The key objectives are to: Map high-resolution paleotsunami deposits at two key locations along the Cascadia subduction zone, and Execute thousands of advanced tsunami inundation models to test hypotheses about...
This two-year, $354,309 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) supports research to develop a new three-dimensional subsurface framework model of the Cascadia subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest. The awardee, the University of Texas at Austin, will analyze seismic data collected during the 2021 Cascadia Seismic Imaging Experiment to study the geometry of the plate interface along the margin, variations in plate interface properties, the...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $274,364 Project Grant to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) under its Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050). The objective of this 3-year award, commencing on May 1, 2024, is to conduct a comprehensive study of the Cascadia subduction zone, focusing on seismic and tsunami activity around the year 1700 CE. UNCW will carry out high-resolution mapping of paleotsunami deposits at two key locations along the Cascadia subduction zone...
This two-year Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences, under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), provides $100,459 to the University of Washington to support collaborative research building a new three-dimensional subsurface framework for the Cascadia Subduction Zone through integrated analysis of data from the 2021 Cascadia Seismic Imaging Experiment (CASIE21). Key products include a regional-scale structural interpretation of offshore Cascadia from...
This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) provides $470,318 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from October 2021 through December 2022. The award will support collaborative research to better understand the contribution of crustal deformation to present-day tectonics at convergent margins like the southern Cascadia forearc. Researchers will utilize multiple geochronologic techniques to develop a record of exhumation and erosion in...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $500,000 Project Grant through its Office of International Science and Engineering program (CFDA 47.079) to the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) to facilitate a coordinated global effort to understand subduction zone geohazards. This 4-year award aims to: Develop an intellectual community to compare global subduction zone observations and cooperatively instrument critical regions to enable breakthroughs in understanding earthquakes,...
This two-year Project Grant award of $401,300 from the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences supports collaborative research on constraints of interseismic locking near the trench on the Oregon segment of the Cascadia Subduction Zone using seafloor geodesy. The research will be conducted through the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego under the NSF's Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050). This program supports basic research in the...
This $174,000 two-year project grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences aims to advance understanding of episodic tremor and slip in subduction zones. Funded under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), which supports basic research to strengthen knowledge of the integrated Earth system, this award will fund research into the role of metasomatic alteration in subduction zone seismic phenomena from September 2021 through August 2023. The grantee, located in Seattle,...
The National Science Foundation awarded a two-year, $174,000 Project Grant to researchers at Riverside, California under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050). The grant will support work using distributed acoustic sensing to detect tremors and characterize earthquake hazard sites in the Cascadia region. Through June 2022 to May 2024, the grantees will evaluate earthquake risks by deploying fiber optic cables to monitor seismic activity. Insights gained from this work will further the...
The University of Washington was awarded a $271,960 two-year Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences under the Geosciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.050). The grant will support collaborative research to study constraints on interseismic locking near the trench on the Oregon segment of the Cascadia Subduction Zone using seafloor geodesy (GNSS-A). As the awardee, the University of Washington will leverage its expertise in ocean sciences and geosciences...
CENTER OPERATIONS: CASCADIA REGION EARTHQUAKE SCIENCE CENTER (CRESCENT) -THE CASCADIA REGION EARTHQUAKE SCIENCE CENTER (CRESCENT) HAS A SPECIFIC FOCUS ON THE SCIENCE RELATED TO SEISMIC HAZARDS ORIGINATING FROM THE CASCADIA SUBDUCTION ZONE (CSZ). SINGLE-DISCIPLINE RESEARCH ON THE CSZ HAS BEEN EXTENSIVE, HOWEVER MUCH REMAINS UNKNOWN. RECOGNIZING THE NECESSITY OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH, CRESCENT AIMS TO AGGREGATE DIVERSE RESEARCH EFFORTS INTO SYSTEM-LEVEL MODELS USING ADVANCED HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING SIMULATIONS, DATA SCIENCE, MACHINE LEARNING, LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS, AND FIELD OBSERVATIONS. PURSUING TRANSFORMATIVE ACTIVITIES, SUCH AS STATE-OF-THE-ART SIMULATIONS OF EARTHQUAKE PROCESSES AND HIGH-RESOLUTION MODELING ALONG THE CSZ, CRESCENT?S OBJECTIVE IS TO DEEPEN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THIS AND POTENTIALLY OTHER SUBDUCTION ZONES AROUND THE WORLD. IN ADDITION, CRESCENT WILL FOCUS ON FOSTERING REGIONAL AND NATIONAL RESILIENCE AGAINST EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS THROUGH EXTENSIVE COLLABORATION WITH VARIOUS COMMUNITY PARTNERS AT THE FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND TRIBAL LEVELS. TRANSLATING SCIENTIFIC INSIGHTS INTO PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR SEISMIC HAZARD RESILIENCE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST IS ONE OF THE FOCUS AREAS OF THIS GEOHAZARD CENTER. EMPHASIS ON BUILDING A DIVERSE GEOSCIENCE WORKFORCE, WITH INITIATIVES TARGETING STUDENTS ACROSS ALL LEVELS IS ANOTHER FOCUS AREA. CRESCENT?S PRIORITIES WITH RESPECT TO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND FEEDBACK, WILL ENSURE A DYNAMIC, ITERATIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE, POLICY, AND SOCIETY. ULTIMATELY, CRESCENT AIMS TO BE A NEXUS FOR EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS RESEARCH, WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, AND COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS, ESTABLISHING A NEW PARADIGM OF COLLABORATIVE EARTH SCIENCE RESEARCH FOR SOCIETAL GOOD. THIS AWARD WAS CO-FUNDED WITH THE MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS PROGRAM IN THE OCEAN SCIENCE DIVISION. THE GOAL OF THE CASCADIA REGION EARTHQUAKE SCIENCE CENTER (CRESCENT) IS TO STUDY EARTHQUAKES ORIGINATING FROM AREAS WHERE AN OCEANIC TECTONIC PLATE SLIDES UNDER A CONTINENTAL PLATE. THESE ARE KNOWN AS SUBDUCTION ZONES. CASCADIA, IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, IS A REGION, WHERE THE SUBDUCTION ZONE CAN PRODUCE THE MOST POWERFUL EARTHQUAKES ON OUR PLANET, CAUSING SERIOUS DAMAGE TO SOCIETY. ALTHOUGH THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF RESEARCH, THERE IS MUCH THAT REMAINS UNKNOW AND THIS IS WHERE CRESCENT ACTIVITIES COME IN. BY USING CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY AND ANALYSIS METHODS CRESCENT PLANS TO POOL TOGETHER RESEARCH FROM VARIOUS SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SOURCES AND MAKE SENSE OF THE SUBDUCTION ZONE. THE CENTER?S FOCUS ON UNDERSTANDING HOW BIG SUBDUCTION EARTHQUAKES CAN AFFECT PEOPLE AND INFRASTRUCTURE CAN HELP BETTER PREPARE SOCIETY FOR THESE FUTURE EVENTS. CRESCENT OUTREACH WORK TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC AS WELL AS FUTURE SCIENTISTS ABOUT EARTHQUAKES AIMS TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH SUBDUCTION EARTHQUAKES AND HOW TO PROTECT THEMSELVES. CRESCENT INTENDS TO CREATE A WORKFORCE THAT REPRESENTS THE DIVERSITY OF OUR SOCIETY BY MAKING AN EFFORT TO CONNECT WITH PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF CRESCENT IS TO BECOME A HUB FOR ALL THINGS RELATED TO EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH AND PREPARATION BY CONNECTING SCIENTISTS TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND DEVELOP PRACTICAL SAFETY MEASURES. THE TEAM BELIEVES THEIR WORK WILL NOT ONLY BENEFIT THE REGION AROUND THE CASCADIA SUBDUCTION ZONE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST BUT CAN ALSO BE APPLIED TO SIMILAR EARTHQUAKE-PRONE AREAS AROUND THE U.S. AND THE WORLD. THE INITIATIVE OF THIS CENTER IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST SCIENCE; IT'S ABOUT USING THAT SCIENCE FOR THE BETTERMENT OF SOCIETY. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.