This month at McMenamins History Pub Night
Presented by: Scott Burns, Professor of Geology, Portland State University,
Wilsonville Public Library, Wilsonville-Boones Ferry Historical Society and McMenamins History
5:00pm Door | 6:30pm Event
McMenamins at the Wilsonville Old Church
In the Pacific Northwest of the United States, the Juan de Fuca plate is being subducted under the North American Plate at the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This presentation will discuss the hazards of and the preparedness for ground shaking, liquefaction, landslides and tsunamis along the subduction zone. What are the differences of recurrence intervals for large earthquakes on the northern and southern margins? Much of the region was not thought to be an earthquake region, so earthquake-building standards are fairly recent. How does the chance of crustal, plate and subduction quakes affect building codes, emergency preparedness, siting of critical facilities, building of bridges, and transportation corridors in the region? What have we learned from recent subduction quakes around the world that can be applied to the Pacific Northwest? What can the region expect after a large quake?
About the Speaker:
Scott is a Professor Emeritus of Geology and Past-Chair of the Dept. of Geology at Portland State University where he just finished his 27th year of teaching. He was also Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at P.S.U. from 1997-1999. He has been teaching for 47 years, with past positions in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana. He is a 6th generation Oregonian who grew up in Beaverton and is very happy to be “home” after a 25 year hiatus!
Scott specializes in environmental and engineering geology, geomorphology, soils, and Quaternary geology. In Oregon, he has projects involving landslides and land use, environmental cleanup of service stations, slope stability, earthquake hazard mapping, Missoula Floods, paleo sols, loess soil stratigraphy, radon generation from soils, the distribution of heavy metals and trace elements in Oregon soils, alpine soil development, and the terroir of wine. He has been active in mapping landslides in the Pacific Northwest since his return to Portland.
Source: Wilsonville McMenamins. 9.30.17