Short Biography

Education:
• Mendenhall Post-doc, Paleoseismology and Neotectonics, USGS, 2013-2015
• Ph.D., Geology, University of California, Davis; 2013
• M.S., Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; 2009
• B.S., Geological Sciences, California State University, Northridge; 2004

Graduate Students:
NOTE TO POTENTIAL STUDENTS: I do not serve as the primary advisor for graduate students in the ESS department. I can, however, serve on the committee of a student who is being advised by another ESS faculty member.
Please establish contact with a Professor first, before contacting me regarding graduate research opportunities. Link to ESS Professors

Current Research:
• geologic mapping, neotectonics, and paleoseismology of structures across the Pacific Northwest, Basin and Range, and Pacific-North America plate boundary
• tectonic evolution of the western margin of the North America (NAM) plate (Pacific-NAM and Juan de Fuca-NAM boundaries)
• development and evolution of the Gulf of California oblique rift (NW Mexico)
• geo-genomic (geologic/biologic/genetic) feedbacks along the Baja California peninsula

Recent Publications:
• Bennett, S.E.K., Sherrod, B.L., Kelsey, H.M., Reedy, T.J., Lasher, J.P., Paces, J.B., and Mahan, S.A., in press, Field and Laboratory Data from the Gus Spring Paleoseismic Site, Burbank Fault, Kittitas County, Washington, U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigation Map.
• Bogan, M.T.; Ballesteros-Córdova, C.; Bennett, S.E.K.; Darin, M.H.; Findley, L.T.; Varela-Romero, A., in press, Oasis: Finding Hidden Biodiversity Gems in the Southern Sonoran Desert, in Propst, D.L. et al. eds., Standing Between Life And Extinction: Ethics And Ecology Of Conserving Aquatic Species In The American Southwest.
• Bennett, S.E.K., DuRoss, C.B., Gold, R.D., Briggs, R.W., Personius, S.F., Reitman, N.G., Devore, J.R., Hiscock, A.I., Mahan, S.A., Gray, H.J., Gunnarson, S., Stephenson, W.J., Klein, T., Pettinger, E., and Odum, J.K., 2018, Paleoseismic Results from the Alpine Site, Wasatch Fault Zone: Timing and Displacement Data for Six Holocene Earthquakes at the Salt Lake City-Provo Segment Boundary, Bulletin of Seismological Society of America.
• DuRoss, C.B., Bennett, S.E.K., Briggs, R.W., Personius, S.F., Gold, R.D., Reitman, N.G., Hiscock, A.I., and Mahan, S.A., 2018, Combining Conflicting Bayesian Models to Develop Paleoseismic Records—An Example from the Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah, Bulletin of Seismological Society of America.
• Huntington, K.W., and Klepeis, K.A., with 66 community contributors, 2018, Challenges and opportunities for research in tectonics: Understanding deformation and the processes that link Earth systems, from geologic time to human time. A community vision document submitted to the U.S. National Science Foundation. University of Washington, 84 pp., https://doi.org/10.6069/H52R3PQ5.
• Bennett, S.E.K., Oskin, M.E., and Iriondo, A., 2017, Latest Miocene transtensional rifting of northeast Isla Tiburón, eastern margin of the Gulf of California, Tectonophysics (special issue about the Gulf of California), Vol. 719-720, p. 86-106, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2017.05.030
• Dorsey, R.J., O’Connell, B., Homan, M.B., Bennett, S.E.K., 2017, Influence of the Eastern California Shear Zone on Deposition of the Mio-Pliocene Bouse Formation: Insights From the Cibola Area, Arizona, in Reynolds, R.E. eds., Proceedings for the 2017 Desert Symposium, p. 150-157.
• Bennett, S.E.K., Oskin, M.E., Iriondo, A., and Kunk, M., J., 2016, Slip history of the La Cruz fault: development of a late Miocene transform in response to increased rift obliquity in the northern Gulf of California, Tectonophysics, Vol. 693, Part B, p. 409-435.
• Darin, M.H., Bennett, S.E.K., Dorsey, R.R.J., Oskin, M.E., and Iriondo, A., 2016, Late Miocene extension in coastal Sonora, México: Implications for the evolution of dextral shear in the proto-Gulf of California oblique rift, Tectonophysics, Vol. 693, Part B, p. 378-408.
• Bennett, S.E.K., Darin, M.H., Dorsey, R.J., Skinner, L.A., Umhoefer, P.J., and Oskin, M.E., 2016, Animated Tectonic Reconstruction of the Lower Colorado River Region: Implications for Late Miocene to Present Deformation, in Reynolds, R.E. eds., Proceedings for the 2016 Desert Symposium, p. 73-86.
• Hiscock, A.I., Bennett, S.E.K., and Bowman, S.D., 2015, Paleoseismic Investigations Of Holocene Earthquakes On The Provo Segment, Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah, Final Technical Report –U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Award Number G13AC00165 to the Utah Geological Survey.
• Reitman, N.G., Bennett, S.E.K., Gold, R.D., Briggs, R.W., and DuRoss, C.B., 2015, High resolution trench photomosaics with structure from motion: workflow and accuracy assessment, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, doi: 10.1785/0120150041.
• Bennett, S.E.K., DuRoss, C.B., Gold, R.D., Briggs, R.W., Personius, S.F., and Mahan, S.A., 2015, Paleoseismic Trenching And Lidar Analysis Supports Non-Persistent Rupture Terminations At Central Wasatch Fault Zone Segment Boundaries, Utah, in Lund, W.R. eds. Proceedings volume, Basin and Range Province Seismic Hazards Summit III: Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 15-5.
• Bennett, S.E.K., Oskin, M.E., Dorsey, R.J., Iriondo, A., and Kunk, M. J., 2015, Stratigraphy and structural development of the southwest Isla Tiburón marine basin: Implications for latest Miocene tectonic opening and flooding of the northern Gulf of California, Geosphere, GES01153-1.
• Dolby, G.A., Bennett, S.E.K., Lira-Noriega, A., Wilder, B.T., and Munguia-Vega, A., 2015, The Geologic and Climatic Forcing of Biodiversity Surrounding the Gulf of California, Journal of the Southwest, 57(2), 391-455.
• Bennett, S.E.K., and Oskin, M.E., 2014, Oblique Rifting Ruptures Continents: Example from the Gulf of California shear zone, Geology, v. 42, no. 3, p. 215-218.
• Bennett, S.E.K., Oskin, M.E., and Iriondo, A., 2013, Transtensional Rifting in the Proto-Gulf of California Near Bahía Kino, Sonora, México, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 125, no. 11/12, p. 1752-1782.
• Fowler, A., Bennett, S.E.K., Wildgoose, M., and Cantwell, C., 2012, An Integrated Multidisciplinary Re-Evaluation of the Geothermal System at Valles Caldera, New Mexico, Using an Immersive Three-Dimensional (3D) Visualization Environment, Geothermal Resources Council Transactions, Vol. 36, p. 703-707.
• Bennett, S.E.K., 2011, Geothermal Potential of Transtensional Plate Boundaries, Geothermal Resources Council Transactions, Vol. 35, p. 703-707.