Queen Charlotte fault Archives

More likely mud than magma, Sitka’s newest volcano is rising from the depths

by Robert Woolsey, KCAW | Dec 2, 2022 | Local News, Syndicated

Out fishing for halibut last month near Sitka, geologist Jacyn Schmidt and her partner noticed an unusual feature on their depth sounder: A 100-foot tall cone, with a plume of gas. Experts believe that it's an underwater volcano -- caused by heated mud or gasses, rather than by erupting magma. Read More

Marine geologist Dr. Gary Greene knows better than anyone that ‘we are living on the edge’

by KCAW News | Mar 28, 2022 | The Morning Interview

Marine geologist Dr. Gary Greene is in Sitka as part of his duties coordinating a project that has mapped in detail the Queen Charlotte Fault, specifically looking at the geometry of the fault, displaced seamounts, and implications for earthquake and tsunami hazards for coastal Alaska and communities like Sitka. Find a link to his schedule of public presentations here. Read More

4.3 magnitude earthquake strikes southwest of Sitka, no tsunami danger

by Katherine Rose | Nov 23, 2020 | Local News, Syndicated

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck a little over 30 miles southwest of Sitka shortly before 1:30 on Monday. Read More

Queen Charlotte Fault study to disclose secrets of ‘The San Andreas of the Pacific’

by KCAW News | Mar 23, 2020 | The Morning Interview

Lindsay Worthington is a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. She and USGS geologist Maureen Walton are heading up a major project to study the undersea Queen Charlotte Fault system, which they call "The San Andreas of the Pacific." The fault, which is offshore of Southeast Alaska, has had more frequent and larger seismic events over recent decades than its California cousin. Read More

Geophysicist visits Sitka, learns to talk shop

by Enrique Pérez de la Rosa, KCAW | Nov 6, 2018 | Local News

Dr. Rachel Lauer is an assistant professor at the University of Calgary in the geophysics program that conducts research around the forces at play during earthquakes and tectonic plate movements. Her research focuses on the processes that move and produce fluids below the sea floor, especially near faults like the Queen Charlotte system. Read More