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Amy East

I study how landscapes change over time, focusing on response to hydroclimatic and anthropogenic disturbances. These studies inform resource management as well as fundamental understanding of earth-surface processes. I am also interested in how sediment moves from source to sink, and how the sedimentary record reflects changes in sediment supply and transport.

Research Topics

Landscape Response to Climate Change

Climatic changes associated with modern global warming have been documented widely, but physical landscape responses are poorly understood. Landscape signals of modern climate change relate to human health and safety, infrastructure, water security, and ecosystems. Our project investigates landscape responses to modern climate change, primarily in the western US, focusing on slope failures, watershed sediment yields, river morphology, and aeolian (wind-blown) sediment mobilization.

Post-Fire Sediment Mobilization

Watershed sediment yields increase after fire, but by how much and with what driving factors is not well understood for some regions. Our group studies several CA wildfires, monitoring sediment yield and related processes. We have studied landscape change after seven California fires spanning 2016 to 2022.

Effects of Large Dam Removal

Colleagues and I have studied river response to large dam removals on the Elwha River, WA, and Carmel River, CA, and study the Klamath River (CA and OR) preparing for dam removals there. I helped lead a USGS Powell Center working group on the state of dam-removal science.

Landscape Response to Hydroclimatic Extremes

Western US landscapes export large sediment fluxes, due to steep terrain, tectonic activity, and potential for extreme rain. I study landscape response to hydroclimatic disturbances—drought and extreme rain. We studied sediment export from the San Lorenzo River, CA, from record rainfall in 2017; and debris flows caused by intense rain in 2018 over the Tuolumne basin. Understanding such disturbances is critical to constraining effects of extreme events on landscapes and sediment budgets.

Landscape Evolution in the Colorado River Ecosystem

From 2003 to 2017 I studied connectivity among fluvial, aeolian, and hillslope processes in the Colorado River corridor, AZ. Since 1963, dam operations have altered flows and sediment supply in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon National Park. Loss of sandbars in the dammed river reduces windblown sand supply to aeolian dunes, affecting archaeological-site stability and ecosystem properties.

Aeolian Landscape Stability

Our work quantified sediment accumulation and landscape stability in areas of the California desert considered for solar-energy projects. I also studied aeolian landscapes on the Navajo Nation, where during drought wind-blown sand mobility has destabilized ground surfaces, endangering housing and transportation, jeopardizing grazing lands, and impacting air quality.

Professional Experience

  • Research Geologist, 2006-present: USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Santa Cruz, CA, Principal Investigator of Landscape Response to Disturbance project

  • Editor-in-Chief, January 2019-present: Journal of Geophysical Research, Earth Surface

  • Postdoctoral Researcher, 2003-2006: USGS/UC Santa Cruz

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D., Geology and Geophysics, 2003: MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

  • B.S., Geological Sciences, 1997: Tufts University

Science and Products

Filter Total Items: 33

Bathymetry, topography and orthomosaic imagery for Whiskeytown Lake, northern California (ver. 2.0, July 2021)

The Carr Fire ignited in northern California on July 23, 2018, and over the following six weeks burned almost 300,000 acres (approximately half on federal lands), resulting in a federal major-disaster declaration (DR-4382). Approximately 93 percent of the area within Whiskeytown National Recreation Area was burned extensively during the Carr Fire, including all of the landscape...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Recovery Activities

Grain-size data for sediment samples collected in Whiskeytown Lake, northern California, in 2018 and 2019

The Carr Fire ignited in northern California in July 2018, and ultimately burned almost 300,000 acres (approximately half on federal lands), resulting in a federal major-disaster declaration (DR-4382). Approximately 93% of the area within Whiskeytown National Recreation Area was burned extensively during the Carr Fire, including all of the landscape surrounding and draining into...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Sediment Lab Suite and Carbon Analysis Laboratory, Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Recovery Activities

Chirp sub-bottom data collected in 2019 in Whiskeytown Lake, California during USGS field activity 2018-686-FA

High-resolution chirp sub-bottom data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in May of 2019 in Whiskeytown Lake, California using an Edgetech SB-512i sub-bottom profiler. These data were collected to measure possible debris flows into the lake during the 2018-2019 rainy season following the July-August 2018 Carr fire that burned vegetation...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Recovery Activities

Field, geotechnical, and meteorological data of the 22 March 2018 narrow cold frontal rainband (NCFR) and its effects, Tuolumne River canyon, Sierra Nevada Foothills, California

This data release includes information used to support the manuscript "Linking mesoscale meteorology with extreme landscape response: effects of narrow cold frontal rainbands (NCFR)". The included datasets and supplement include information related to the 22 March 2018 NCFR and associated shallow landslides in the Toulumne Canyon triggered by this event. The three datasets and one...
By
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center

Floodplain data from the Hoh, Elwha, Queets, and Quinault Rivers in Olympic National Park, 1939-2013

Floodplain characteristics were quantified for four rivers in Olympic National Park, Washington, USA, using orthophoto imagery taken between 1939-2013.
By
Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

River Valley Sediment Connectivity Data, Colorado River, Grand Canyon

This workbook contains spatial data on the hydrology, sedimentology, and vegetation extent within the Colorado River corridor from 60 to 78 miles (97 to 125 kilometers) downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona. In combination with the accompanying MATLAB scripts, these data were used to generate the results within the accompanying manuscript (Kasprak et al., Quantifying and Forecasting...
By
Southwest Biological Science Center
No results found.
Filter Total Items: 64

Commentary: Variability in shelf sedimentation in response to fluvial sediment supply and coastal erosion over the past 1,000 Years in Monterey Bay, CA, United States

A commentary on: Variability in Shelf Sedimentation in Response to Fluvial Sediment Supply and Coastal Erosion Over the Past 1,000 Years in Monterey Bay, CA, United States. by Carlin J., Addison J., Wagner A., Schwartz V., Hayward J., Severin V. (2019) Front. Earth Sci., 7:113. doi: 10.3389/feart.2019.00113
Authors
Jonathan Warrick, Amy East, Curt D. Storlazzi, James Conrad
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Case study: Thomas Fire

No abstract available.
Authors
Jason R. Kreitler, Amy East, Joel B. Sankey, Christina L. Tague
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Western Geographic Science Center, Wildland Fire Science

Refining the Baseline Sediment Budget for the Klamath River, California

Four dams in the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project (KHP) in Oregon and California (Figure 1) are currently scheduled to be removed over a period of a few weeks or months, beginning in January 2021. The Klamath dam removal will be the largest in the world by almost all measures, and is an unprecedented opportunity to advance science of river responses to such events. The KHP contains...
Authors
Chauncey W. Anderson, Scott Wright, Liam N. Schenk, Katherine Skalak, Jennifer A. Curtis, Amy East, Adam J. Benthem
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, California Water Science Center, New England Water Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Conceptualizing ecological responses to dam removal: If you remove it, what's to come?

One of the desired outcomes of dam decommissioning and removal is the recovery of aquatic and riparian ecosystems. To investigate this common objective, we synthesized information from empirical studies and ecological theory into conceptual models that depict key physical and biological links driving ecological responses to removing dams. We define models for three distinct spatial...
Authors
James Bellmore, George R. Pess, Jeffrey J. Duda, James E. O'Connor, Amy East, Melissa M. Foley, Andrew C. Wilcox, Jon J. Major, Patrick B. Shafroth, Sarah A. Morley, Christopher S. Magirl, Chauncey W. Anderson, James S. Evans, Christian E. Torgersen, Laura S. Craig
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Species Management Research Program, Arizona Water Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, Oregon Water Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Western Fisheries Research Center

Geomorphic evolution of a gravel‐bed river under sediment‐starved vs. sediment‐rich conditions: River response to the world's largest dam removal

Understanding river response to sediment pulses is a fundamental problem in geomorphic process studies, with myriad implications for river management. However, because large sediment pulses are rare and usually unanticipated, they are seldom studied at field scale. We examine fluvial response to a massive (~20 Mt) sediment pulse released by the largest dam removal globally, on the Elwha...
Authors
Amy East, Joshua B. Logan, Mark C. Mastin, Andrew C. Ritchie, Jennifer A. Bountry, Christopher S. Magirl, Joel B. Sankey
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

A regime shift in sediment export from a coastal watershed during a record wet winter, California: Implications for landscape response to hydroclimatic extremes

Small, steep watersheds are prolific sediment sources from which sediment flux is highly sensitive to climatic changes. Storm intensity and frequency are widely expected to increase during the 21st century, and so assessing the response of small, steep watersheds to extreme rainfall is essential to understanding landscape response to climate change. During record winter rainfall in 2016...
Authors
Amy East, Andrew W. Stevens, Andrew C. Ritchie, Patrick L. Barnard, Pamela Swarzenski, Brian D. Collins, Christopher Conaway
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Organic Geochemistry Laboratory

Non-USGS Publications**

East, Amy E; Harrison, Lee R; Smith, Douglas P; Logan, Joshua B; Bond, Rosealea M, Six years of fluvial response to a large dam removal on the Carmel River, California, USA: Earth surface processes and landforms : the journal of the British Geomorphological Research Group, 2023
ISSN: 0197-9337 , 1096-9837 (online) , 1096-9837; DOI: 10.1002/esp.5561

Draut, A.E., and Clift, P.D., 2001, Geochemical evolution of arc magmatism during arc-continent collision, South Mayo, Ireland: Geology v. 29 (6): 543–546. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0543:GEOAMD>2.0.CO;2

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Filter Total Items: 20

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