Description

The Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESCENT) is offering a five-day field-based technical short course that will expose participants to paleoearthquake studies and their application to understanding fault behavior in space and time. Led by members of CRESCENT's Cascadia Paleoseismology (CPAL) and Community Fault Model (CFM) working groups, the course will integrate topics including principles of subsidence stratigraphy, ecology-based paleoseismic studies, tsunami deposit mapping, trench-based active fault paleoseismology, high resolution lidar topography, and surficial geologic mapping. 

Dates
August 30 - September 5, 2026

Location
Coos County on southern Oregon’s coast. The course will be based out of University of Oregon’s marine laboratory, the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) in Charleston, a small fishing community situated on the South Slough of Coos Bay. While some time will be spent in the classroom at OIMB, participants will spend 4.5 days in the field in the marshes and adjacent uplands of CoosBay. Travel, lodging, and meals will be provided. 
 
Audience
This course is for graduate students, postdocs, and early career professionals involved in or conducting earthquake research who have specific research or application needs for using or collecting paleoseismic data. We encourage applicants from all geoscience fields and backgrounds, including field and lab-based investigators and numerical modelers, to apply.

Click Here to Learn More & Apply
 
Application Deadline: May 22, 2026 

Requirements

Prerequisites  

• This course is for graduate students, postdocs, and early career professionals involved in or conducting earthquake research who have specific research or application needs for using or collecting paleoseismic data
• Applicants are currently based at a U.S. institution. International students who are based at a U.S. institution are welcome to apply.
• Ability to explain how this course aligns with your current research or technical goals. 
   
  Note on Fieldwork: Field days will be ~8 hours long and participants must be able to walk on uneven ground for ~1 km while carrying a small pack. The field sites are relatively accessible, and no prior field experience is required. If you have any questions about what the fieldwork entails, please contact Tina Dura (tinadura@vt.edu) or Colin Amos (amosc2@wwu.edu).

Space is limited to 10 participants.