Jenna C. Hill
@chillocean.bsky.social
Marine Geologist w/USGS; likes to nerd out about marine geohazards, paleoclimate and seascape evolution; lover of dogs, soccer et al.
ICYMI: Our #USGS #scicomm put together a great video about our research into #earthquake records in the Cascadia subduction zone. 🧪⚒️🌊
You can read our new paper in Science Advances here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
You can read our new paper in Science Advances here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
January 16, 2026 at 3:50 PM
ICYMI: Our #USGS #scicomm put together a great video about our research into #earthquake records in the Cascadia subduction zone. 🧪⚒️🌊
You can read our new paper in Science Advances here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
You can read our new paper in Science Advances here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
We propose a new geologic model for subduction zone marine paleoseismology that emphasizes uplift & recycling of the abyssal seafloor. Accretion and oversteepening on the lower slope sets the stage for landslides and provides a perpetual source of material to fail during each earthquake cycle.
🧪⚒️🌊
🧪⚒️🌊
January 14, 2026 at 9:31 PM
We propose a new geologic model for subduction zone marine paleoseismology that emphasizes uplift & recycling of the abyssal seafloor. Accretion and oversteepening on the lower slope sets the stage for landslides and provides a perpetual source of material to fail during each earthquake cycle.
🧪⚒️🌊
🧪⚒️🌊
Our study shows that large megathrust earthquakes generate widespread landslides on the seafloor, with characteristic deposits called turbidites that can reliably be used to reconstruct earthquake history. 🧪⚒️🌊
Check out this USGS video describing our new findings:
Check out this USGS video describing our new findings:
January 14, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Our study shows that large megathrust earthquakes generate widespread landslides on the seafloor, with characteristic deposits called turbidites that can reliably be used to reconstruct earthquake history. 🧪⚒️🌊
Check out this USGS video describing our new findings:
Check out this USGS video describing our new findings:
Our research team from USGS & MBARI used autonomous underwater& remotely operated vehicles to collect detailed seafloor bathymetry, sediment cores and subbottom data. Together, these data allow us to examine the shape of the seafloor and the layers of sediment beneath that record earth history. 🧪⚒️🌊
January 14, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Our research team from USGS & MBARI used autonomous underwater& remotely operated vehicles to collect detailed seafloor bathymetry, sediment cores and subbottom data. Together, these data allow us to examine the shape of the seafloor and the layers of sediment beneath that record earth history. 🧪⚒️🌊
An important reminder from the US National Weather service regarding the US west coast tsunami advisories following today’s M8.8 Kamchatka quake:
July 30, 2025 at 2:36 AM
An important reminder from the US National Weather service regarding the US west coast tsunami advisories following today’s M8.8 Kamchatka quake:
Rain or shine, it’s always a good day to survey submarine landslides in #Alaska! #USGS #Coastal & #Marine #Geohazards 🧪⚒️🌊
June 7, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Rain or shine, it’s always a good day to survey submarine landslides in #Alaska! #USGS #Coastal & #Marine #Geohazards 🧪⚒️🌊
Another curious specimen from marine sediment cores - anyone have thoughts on what these copper brown coils might be?
Could be terrestrial (from ice age) or marine. 👽, 🐌, 💩 have all been suggested…
This sample is from the Bering Shelf in about 40m of water.
🧪⚒️🌊
Could be terrestrial (from ice age) or marine. 👽, 🐌, 💩 have all been suggested…
This sample is from the Bering Shelf in about 40m of water.
🧪⚒️🌊
May 1, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Another curious specimen from marine sediment cores - anyone have thoughts on what these copper brown coils might be?
Could be terrestrial (from ice age) or marine. 👽, 🐌, 💩 have all been suggested…
This sample is from the Bering Shelf in about 40m of water.
🧪⚒️🌊
Could be terrestrial (from ice age) or marine. 👽, 🐌, 💩 have all been suggested…
This sample is from the Bering Shelf in about 40m of water.
🧪⚒️🌊
Seafloor enthusiasts! We now have a complete set of high resolution seafloor bathymetry grids for the Cascadia subduction zone (offshore Washington, Oregon & northern California) available for download! #USGS #data #science #mapping #MarineGeohazards
🧪⚒️🌊
www.usgs.gov/programs/cmh...
🧪⚒️🌊
www.usgs.gov/programs/cmh...
April 23, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Seafloor enthusiasts! We now have a complete set of high resolution seafloor bathymetry grids for the Cascadia subduction zone (offshore Washington, Oregon & northern California) available for download! #USGS #data #science #mapping #MarineGeohazards
🧪⚒️🌊
www.usgs.gov/programs/cmh...
🧪⚒️🌊
www.usgs.gov/programs/cmh...
Do you like submarine canyons? Check out this nice pilot study we did in Astoria Canyon, offshore Washington and Oregon - led by graduate student Evan Lahr - that shows a dynamic sedimentary environment. 🤓 🧪⚒️
Just published in Marine Geology: authors.elsevier.com/c/1kqiT5mVe1...
Just published in Marine Geology: authors.elsevier.com/c/1kqiT5mVe1...
March 28, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Do you like submarine canyons? Check out this nice pilot study we did in Astoria Canyon, offshore Washington and Oregon - led by graduate student Evan Lahr - that shows a dynamic sedimentary environment. 🤓 🧪⚒️
Just published in Marine Geology: authors.elsevier.com/c/1kqiT5mVe1...
Just published in Marine Geology: authors.elsevier.com/c/1kqiT5mVe1...
Did someone say World Glacier Day? I still love this shot of our boat from field work in Prince William Sound, Alaska last summer. We were up there up there studying submarine landslides and will hopefully be back this summer. 🧪⚒️
March 22, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Did someone say World Glacier Day? I still love this shot of our boat from field work in Prince William Sound, Alaska last summer. We were up there up there studying submarine landslides and will hopefully be back this summer. 🧪⚒️
Peeking at a little bit of sedimentological history 🧪⚒️
IYKYK…and if you don’t know these are old marine sediment cores with some famous names. #geologynerds
IYKYK…and if you don’t know these are old marine sediment cores with some famous names. #geologynerds
March 14, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Peeking at a little bit of sedimentological history 🧪⚒️
IYKYK…and if you don’t know these are old marine sediment cores with some famous names. #geologynerds
IYKYK…and if you don’t know these are old marine sediment cores with some famous names. #geologynerds
Faculty and staff at Sonoma State University were just notified of the closing of the Geology Department - they are organizing an email letter writing campaign for Monday 1/27 to rally support - see below🧪⚒️
It’s awful to see the closing of another Geology department and big loss for the community.
It’s awful to see the closing of another Geology department and big loss for the community.
January 25, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Faculty and staff at Sonoma State University were just notified of the closing of the Geology Department - they are organizing an email letter writing campaign for Monday 1/27 to rally support - see below🧪⚒️
It’s awful to see the closing of another Geology department and big loss for the community.
It’s awful to see the closing of another Geology department and big loss for the community.
Colleagues happened to be en route to field work in Eel River when M7 #earthquake happened yesterday near Cape Mendocino, so they got a great opportunity to document some co-seismic landslides. Here’s a couple of nice pics they snapped on the beach before the tides take it away. 🧪⚒️
December 7, 2024 at 2:40 AM
Colleagues happened to be en route to field work in Eel River when M7 #earthquake happened yesterday near Cape Mendocino, so they got a great opportunity to document some co-seismic landslides. Here’s a couple of nice pics they snapped on the beach before the tides take it away. 🧪⚒️
Interesting! I love the the call to collect cores on the shelf - that is exactly what we did! We have lots of exciting new data that suggests the shelf was not an arid steppe tundra, but rather a wetland like the modern Y-K delta. I’d be curious to see how/if that changes the methane fluxes.
December 5, 2024 at 3:09 PM
Interesting! I love the the call to collect cores on the shelf - that is exactly what we did! We have lots of exciting new data that suggests the shelf was not an arid steppe tundra, but rather a wetland like the modern Y-K delta. I’d be curious to see how/if that changes the methane fluxes.
Making plans for field work in Alaska next summer and looking forward to more spectacular scenery at sea! This was from one our anchorages in Prince William Sound last year. #FieldWorkFriday
November 22, 2024 at 2:26 PM
Making plans for field work in Alaska next summer and looking forward to more spectacular scenery at sea! This was from one our anchorages in Prince William Sound last year. #FieldWorkFriday
November 12, 2024 at 3:30 AM
Another microscope 🔬 mystery! Any ideas what this fossil might be? It’s about 1.5cm long. It was buried in about 2m of marine mud in 570m water depth, offshore of Washington. We think the mud is 10,000ish years old. #SciSky 🧪⚒️
October 30, 2024 at 12:52 AM
Another microscope 🔬 mystery! Any ideas what this fossil might be? It’s about 1.5cm long. It was buried in about 2m of marine mud in 570m water depth, offshore of Washington. We think the mud is 10,000ish years old. #SciSky 🧪⚒️
Hey #scisky, anyone know what these bits of organic matter in the #microscope photos below might be? 🧪⚒️🔬I feel like we see this a lot but don’t know what it is. These particular samples are from marine sediment cores on the Bering Shelf.
October 18, 2024 at 9:31 PM
Hey #scisky, anyone know what these bits of organic matter in the #microscope photos below might be? 🧪⚒️🔬I feel like we see this a lot but don’t know what it is. These particular samples are from marine sediment cores on the Bering Shelf.
Just recovered the last of our instruments from the Washington shelf. We’ve been instrumenting 2 submarine canyons for the past year to examine the oceanographic triggers of sediment gravity flows and compare these with deposits from turbidity currents generated by #earthquakes. 🧪⚒️ #geohazards
September 1, 2024 at 3:38 AM
Just recovered the last of our instruments from the Washington shelf. We’ve been instrumenting 2 submarine canyons for the past year to examine the oceanographic triggers of sediment gravity flows and compare these with deposits from turbidity currents generated by #earthquakes. 🧪⚒️ #geohazards
We just wrapped up an excellent round of field work full of beautiful scenery and beautiful data in Prince William Sound, Alaska - mapping submarine landslides to investigate earthquake and tsunami hazards. This region saw major impacts in the 1964 M9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake. #USGS ⚒️🧪
July 1, 2024 at 2:42 AM
We just wrapped up an excellent round of field work full of beautiful scenery and beautiful data in Prince William Sound, Alaska - mapping submarine landslides to investigate earthquake and tsunami hazards. This region saw major impacts in the 1964 M9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake. #USGS ⚒️🧪
We had a great time at #SSA in Anchorage this week with our Faults to Fjords onshore-offshore paleoseismology session and an amazing field trip to Prince William Sound, including an up close look at Barry Arm - an active landslide with a massive tsunami potential. ⚒️🧪
May 4, 2024 at 8:48 PM
We had a great time at #SSA in Anchorage this week with our Faults to Fjords onshore-offshore paleoseismology session and an amazing field trip to Prince William Sound, including an up close look at Barry Arm - an active landslide with a massive tsunami potential. ⚒️🧪
We collect a lot of sediment cores offshore and in lakes to study coastal and marine geohazards like earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis. Ever wonder what happens to all that mud? Here’s a great video tour of our USGS PCMSC core lab in Santa Cruz: ow.ly/bja250QCQM1 🧪⚒️
February 16, 2024 at 7:59 PM
We collect a lot of sediment cores offshore and in lakes to study coastal and marine geohazards like earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis. Ever wonder what happens to all that mud? Here’s a great video tour of our USGS PCMSC core lab in Santa Cruz: ow.ly/bja250QCQM1 🧪⚒️