WSG coastal hazards specialist Carrie Garrison-Laney is a member of the National Science Foundation-funded Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hazards Research Hub, where she leads interdisciplinary research on the distribution, ages, and sources of paleotsunami and earthquake evidence in Washington state. Her work seeks to improve the understanding of the history of Cascadia and crustal fault tsunamis and includes field investigations, radiocarbon dating and age modeling, modeling of tsunami inundation and sediment transport, and intertidal paleoecology.
Carrie has spent recent years working at Discovery Bay, Washington, describing a record of tsunami deposits, and reducing the uncertainty in their sources and ages. A collaboration with the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research is exploring models of tsunamis from Cascadia, local fault, and distant earthquake sources in Washington to better understand the sources of the 10 tsunami deposits from the last 3,000 years at Discovery Bay.
Through a combination of research and outreach, WSG builds scientific understanding and public awareness of this paramount coastal hazard. WSG staff collaborate with state and county emergency managers, maritime groups, and other stakeholders around the state and gives public presentations focused on education and preparation. WSG staff link the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory’s (PMEL’s) tsunami modelers and research to end-users in the community. Users include the Washington Military Department’s Emergency Management Division, the Washington State Geological Survey at the Department of Natural Resources, and other agencies. WSG supports their efforts to plan effectively for natural hazards. Carrie’s work is partially supported by PMEL Liaison funds.
Carrie represents WSG and NOAA PMEL as Liaison on the following:
- The NOAA SAB Tsunami Science and Technology Advisory Panel, Co-Chair
- Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESCENT) Paleoseismology Working Group
- Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESCENT) Tsunami Sources for Hazard Assessment Special Interest Group
- USGS Powell Center Workshops on Tsunami Sources