COASTAL HAZARDS AT VIRGINIA TECH

Coastal Hazards Laboratory

Dr. Tina Dura specializes in subduction zone paleogeodesy, which combines the methods of coastal stratigraphy, sedimentology, micropaleontology, paleoseismology, geophysical and sediment transport modeling, and sea-level research to reconstruct long-term histories of coseismic vertical deformation and tsunami inundation along subduction zone coastlines.

The Coastal Hazards Laboratory at Virginia Tech is part of an interdisciplinary Coastal Hazards group at Virginia Tech, and is also affiliated with the Center for Coastal Studies at Virginia Tech, Global Change Center, and Fralin Life Sciences Institute. The Coastal Hazards Laboratory is also leading the Paleoseismology Working Group (CPAL) in the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESCENT), CRESCENT will be the first center of its kind in the nation focused on earthquakes at subduction zones, and will provide a systematic approach to collaboration between researchers in academia and those in agencies that have mandates to produce hazard information that stakeholders, practitioners, and the public at large can trust and use in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

Recent news

09/10/2024 Award: Dr. Tina Dura was awarded a 3-year NSFGEO-NERC grant for 500k to document the earthquake and tsunami history of the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone and evaluate recurrence intervals and tsunami inundation areas for future events. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419504&HistoricalAwards=false
Summer 2024 Research and Outreach: The Coastal Hazards Lab is delving into microplastics research! Our lab teamed up with Austin Gray (Biological Sciences) to provide a four-week Microplastics summer research experience (MSRE) for VT students on microplastics through the Virginia Tech Seale Coastal Zone Observatory. We conducted fieldwork in the Chesapeake Bay to characterize the concentration and composition of microplastics through time in intertidal marshes.
- More on the MSRE in the VT News: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/08/summer-microplastics-experience.html?utm_source=cmpgn_news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vtUnirelNewsDailyCMP_aug0724-fs
- A video on the MSRE here: https://news.vt.edu/videos/k/2024/08/1_uj4x0t2n.html?utm_source=cmpgn_news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vtUnirelNewsDailyCMP_aug1424-fs
- WVTF radio story with MSRE students: https://www.wvtf.org/news/2024-08-23/students-analyze-what-types-of-microplastics-are-in-the-chesapeake-bay
06/15/2024 Media: The Coastal Hazards Lab was featured in this short documentary put together by Oregon Public Broadcasting on their work studying ancient earthquakes and tsunamis and future hazards along Oregon’s coastlines. https://www.opb.org/article/2024/06/27/all-science-no-fiction-oregon-coast-diatoms-fossils-soil-cores-marshland-tsunamis/ . The documentary was also featured in this VT News article. https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/07/tina-dura-pbs-oregon-nsf-seismic-history-cascadia-subduction-zone.html
05/21/2024 New publication: We have an exciting new publication out in JGR: Earth's Surface on splay faulting in Alaska led by Dr. Jess DePaolis (Coastal Hazards Lab postdoc) Check it out that this link: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023JB028552. And check out an article in the Virginia Tech News about the new study: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/05/subduction-zones-splay-faults-jessica-depaolis-tina-dura.html
04/25/2024 New publication(s): Check out an article authored by Dr. Dura and Dr. DePaolis (former PhD student and current Coastal Hazards lab postdoc) in the new PAGES magazine! PAGES Magazine is a free paleoscience magazine that aims to communicate paleoscience in an accessible and informative style. Dr. Dura also co-authored another article in the same special issue. Check it out at this link: https://pastglobalchanges.org/publications/pages-magazines/pages-magazine
04/15/2024 Media: Dr. Tina Dura was featured in the Seismological Society of America "At Work" column that asks "What is a seismologist, and what does she or he do all day? The At Work column gives you a chance to meet our members and learn more about the broad span of disciplines and careers within seismology." Check it out here: https://www.seismosoc.org/news/at-work-tina-dura/
04/01/2024 Data Release: Exciting compilation of published paleoseismic data from Cascadia built by the Cascadia EQ hazards USGS Powell Center working group led by Lydia Staisch. The goal of this team effort is provide benchmarks to test models, compare records, identify data gaps, etc at Cascadia! Check it out here: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/64261ec8d34e370832ff6232
02/11/2024 Media: Dr. Tina Dura was featured in the VT Science Corner column in the Roanoke times. The article discusses the paleoseismic work the Coastal Hazards Lab is doing on the Oregon coast to better prepare people living along the Cascadia subduction zone for future earthquake and tsunami events. Check it out here: https://roanoke.com/opinion/column/vt-science-corner-revealing-clues-of-earths-turbulent-past/article_9d880a9e-c46d-11ee-95f5-eb81adb3e76f.html
01/10/2024 Award: Dr. Tina Dura has received a $230,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct paleotsunami research along the Cascadia subduction zone. The grant is funding a collaborative project with Dr. Diego Melgar at the University of Oregon and Andrea Hawkes at the the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
09/08/2023 Award: Dr. Tina Dura has received a $650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct paleoseismic research along the Cascadia subduction zone as part of the $15 million Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESCENT). CRESCENT will be the first center of its kind in the nation focused on earthquakes at subduction zones, and will provide a systematic approach to collaboration between researchers in academia and those in agencies that have mandates to produce hazard information that stakeholders, practitioners, and the public at large can trust and use in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225286&HistoricalAwards=false
08/15/2023 Media: The Coastal Hazards Lab was featured in an article in the VT News highlighting their work on the Oregon coast to better prepare people living along the Cascadia subduction zone for future earthquake and tsunami events. https://news.vt.edu/articles/2023/08/science-tina-dura-cascadia-subduction-zone.html
06/08/2023 Media: A documentary producer and film crew from Oregon Public Broadcasting visited the Coastal Hazards Lab in June to interview and film members of the lab regarding their work reconstructing past earthquakes and tsunamis along the coast of Oregon. The documentary will air in winter 2024. Stay tuned!
July 2023 Award: Coastal Hazards Lab PhD student Mike Priddy was awarded a Geological Society of America (GSA) research grant in the amount of $2,500 for his work mapping the true inland extent of Cascadia tsunami deposits at the Salmon River estuary, Oregon. He'll use this money to fund his fieldwork this fall.
July 2023 Fieldwork: The Coastal Hazards Lab conducted microplastics fieldwork on the Eastern Shore in July. The Lab will collaborate with microplastics researchers in the Biology department to analyze microplastics concentration in sediment cores and determine their composition and concentration through time. (photos attached)
June 2023 Award: Coastal Hazards Lab PhD student David Bruce was awarded a Seismological Society of America (SSA) Student Presentation Award following his poster presentation at the SSA meeting in Puerto Rico. He presented on "Variability in Diatom-Based Coseismic Subsidence Estimates Over Multiple Earthquake Cycles in a Southern Oregon Tidal Wetland, Cascadia Subduction Zone."
09/26/2022 New publication: Seismic Sources in the Aleutian Cradle of Tsunamis - Eos. Available as a PDF here and here: https://eos.org/features/seismic-sources-in-the-aleutian-cradle-of-tsunamis
05/02/2022 New publication: Modeling Coastal Environmental Change and Tsunami Hazard available as a PDF here and here: www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.871794/full
03/24/2022 New publication: The giant 1960 tsunami in the context of a 6000‐year record of paleotsunamis and coastal evolution in south‐central Chile in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms available as a PDF here and here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.5363
03/01/2022 New publication: The response of foraminifera to rapid sea-level rise from tidal restoration of Ni-les' tun marsh, Oregon, USA available as a PDF here and here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025322722000287
1/31/2022 News article in AGU Eos about recent Alaska tsunami publication available here: https://eos.org/articles/rising-seas-boost-tsunami-impacts-on-distant-shorelines
12/08/2021 News article in the Virginia Tech News about recent Alaska tsunami publication available here: https://vtx.vt.edu/articles/2021/12/fralinlifesci-tsunami-modeling-sea-level-rise.html
12/08/2021 New publication: Changing impacts of Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone tsunamis in California under sea-level rise available in Nature Communications here (PDF) and here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27445-8
9/02/2021 News article in the Virginia Tech News about recent Chile and Japan Coastal Hazard lab publications available here: https://vtx.vt.edu/articles/2021/09/science_Dura_geologists_look_to_past.html
9/02/2021 New publication: Tsunami reconstruction and modeling paper from the Tokyo region in Nature Geoscience available as a PDF here and here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00812-2
7/30/2021 New publication: Modern dataset of diatoms of Willapa Bay, Washington USA. Available as a PDF here and open access here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377839821000748?via%3Dihub
7/22/2021 New publication: North-central Chile tsunami paper in Quaternary Science Reviews led by PhD student Jess Depaolis. Available as a PDF here and open access here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379121002596
1/21/21 Public lecture recording: Tina Dura Detect Talk public lecture available to view here
1/12/21 New publication: Cascadia subduction zone review paper in Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science available a PDF here and here: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-earth-071620-065605
12/10/20 New publication: New Review in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment looking at measuring, modeling, and projecting land subsidence available as a PDF here and here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-00115-x

Media

Microplastics fieldwork video

Oregon Public Broadcasting Documentary

With Good Reason Podcast

Getting Curious with Jonathan VanNess

Slight Chance of Science Podcast

More News