James Conrad
I study seafloor geology along the West Coast of the U.S. using various types of geophysical surveys to map the seafloor and image sub-seafloor strata. The purpose of this work is to help understand the hazards posed to coastal communities and infrastructure by offshore active faults and submarine landslides.
I received a Bachelors Degree in Earth Science from U.C. Berkeley in 1981, and a Masters Degree in Geology from San Jose State University in 1993. I have worked at the USGS since 1981, first in the Minerals Program, where I worked to assess the potential for undiscovered mineral deposits in the western U.S., and used Argon geochronology to date mineral deposits and related igneous rocks. In 1995, I joined the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, where I study marine geologic hazards such as earthquakes on offshore faults and tsunamis generated by submarine landslides.
Science and Products
Faunal and stable isotopic analyses of benthic foraminifera from the Southeast Seep on Kimki Ridge offshore southern California, USA
Slope failure and mass transport processes along the Queen Charlotte Fault Zone, western British Columbia
Multibeam echosounder (MBES) images, 3.5 kHz seismic-reflection profiles and piston cores obtained along the southern Queen Charlotte Fault Zone are used to map and date mass-wasting events at this transform margin – a seismically active boundary that separates the Pacific Plate from the North American Plate. Whereas the upper continental slope adjacent to and east (upslope) of the fault zone offs
Slope failure and mass transport processes along the Queen Charlotte Fault, southeastern Alaska
The Queen Charlotte Fault defines the Pacific–North America transform plate boundary in western Canada and southeastern Alaska for c. 900 km. The entire length of the fault is submerged along a continental margin dominated by Quaternary glacial processes, yet the geomorphology along the margin has never been systematically examined due to the absence of high-resolution seafloor mapping data. Hence
The tectonically controlled San Gabriel Channel–Lobe Transition Zone, Catalina Basin, Southern California Borderland
Strain partitioning in southeastern Alaska: Is the Chatham Strait Fault active?
Seafloor fluid seeps on Kimki Ridge, offshore southern California: Links to active strike-slip faulting
Records of continental slope sediment flow morphodynamic responses to gradient and active faulting from integrated AUV and ROV data, offshore Palos Verdes, southern California Borderland
The Palos Verdes Fault offshore southern California: late Pleistocene to present tectonic geomorphology, seascape evolution and slip rate estimate based on AUV and ROV surveys
Bathymetry and acoustic backscatter: outer mainland shelf and slope, Gulf of Santa Catalina, southern California
Anatomy of La Jolla submarine canyon system; offshore southern California
Hyperpycnal plume-derived fans in the Santa Barbara Channel, California
Slip rate on the San Diego trough fault zone, inner California Borderland, and the 1986 Oceanside earthquake swarm revisited
Multichannel minisparker and chirp seismic reflection data of USGS field activity 2016-616-FA collected in the Catalina Basin offshore southern California in February 2016
Minisparker and chirp seismic-reflection data of field activity 2014-645-FA collected in the outer Santa Barbara Channel, California, between 2014-11-12 to 2014-11-25 (ver. 2.0, March 2020)
Multibeam bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter data collected in 2016 in Catalina Basin, southern California and merged multibeam bathymetry datasets of the northern portion of the Southern California Continental Borderland
Multichannel minisparker and chirp seismic-reflection data of field activity 2015-651-FA; Chatham Strait and Cross Sound, southeastern Alaska from 2015-08-03 to 2015-08-21
Chirp seismic-reflection data collected offshore of San Diego and Los Angeles Counties, southern California, from 2011-06-08 to 2011-06-22 (USGS field activity S-7-11-SC)
Chirp seismic-reflection data collected between Oceanside and La Jolla, offshore of southern California, from 2010-06-01 to 2010-06-12 (USGS field activity S-12-10-SC)
Minisparker seismic-reflection data collected offshore of San Diego and Los Angeles Counties, southern California, from 2011-06-08 to 2011-06-22 (USGS field activity S-7-11-SC)
Minisparker seismic-reflection data collected between Oceanside and La Jolla, offshore of southern California, from 2010-06-01 to 2010-06-12 (USGS field activity S-12-10-SC)
Minisparker seismic-reflection data collected between Huntington Beach and San Diego, offshore of southern California, from 2008-04-28 to 2008-05-05 (USGS field activity B-1-08-SC)
Chirp seismic-reflection data collected in the San Pedro Basin, offshore of southern California, from 2009-07-06 to 2009-07-10 (USGS field activity S-5-09-SC)
Minisparker seismic-reflection data collected in the San Pedro Basin, offshore of southern California, from 2009-07-06 to 2009-07-10 (USGS field activity S-5-09-SC)
Sediment core data from offshore Palos Verdes, California
Science and Products
Faunal and stable isotopic analyses of benthic foraminifera from the Southeast Seep on Kimki Ridge offshore southern California, USA
Slope failure and mass transport processes along the Queen Charlotte Fault Zone, western British Columbia
Multibeam echosounder (MBES) images, 3.5 kHz seismic-reflection profiles and piston cores obtained along the southern Queen Charlotte Fault Zone are used to map and date mass-wasting events at this transform margin – a seismically active boundary that separates the Pacific Plate from the North American Plate. Whereas the upper continental slope adjacent to and east (upslope) of the fault zone offs
Slope failure and mass transport processes along the Queen Charlotte Fault, southeastern Alaska
The Queen Charlotte Fault defines the Pacific–North America transform plate boundary in western Canada and southeastern Alaska for c. 900 km. The entire length of the fault is submerged along a continental margin dominated by Quaternary glacial processes, yet the geomorphology along the margin has never been systematically examined due to the absence of high-resolution seafloor mapping data. Hence