Late Quaternary Tectonics and Environmental History in the Kamchatka- Komandorsky Region, Russian Far East

该项目的主要目标是确定自大约1万年前冰川消退以来，太平洋西北部和白令海西南部的地震、海啸和海岸变形的历史。为了实现这一历史，该项目还将对堪察加半岛上大型火山爆发的千年历史做出贡献。实现这些目标的主要手段是野外工作、海岸测量、海沟挖掘、地层描述和取样——以及用于年龄控制的放射性碳定年法，以及对火山灰层和海啸沉积物的分析。这个项目的重点是皇帝海山链和阿留申-科曼多尔斯基群岛与堪察加半岛碰撞的区域，以及俯冲带结束的地方，构造过渡到白令海。该地区的海啸和火山爆发历史可以应用于整个北太平洋和白令海地区——作为理解构造历史的指南，作为相关性的工具（例如，在阿留申群岛），以及作为自然灾害分析的指标。此外，堪察加海啸影响的地区和人口远至夏威夷和智利。该项目还将通过花粉分析和大植被研究记录选定地点的植被变化历史。在与考古学家的合作下，人类居住水平将被记录下来，以备将来可能的勘探，并记录人类居住与地质事件之间的关系。该项目还将提供基础泥炭层的年龄，这对全球碳预算和气候变化模型都有影响。

The primary goal of this project is to determine the history of earthquakes, tsunamis, and coastal deformation in the northwestern-most Pacific and southwestern Bering Sea, since the retreat of glaciers about 10,000 years ago. In order to achieve this history, the project will also contribute to the millennial-scale history of large volcanic eruptions on Kamchatka. Primary means for accomplishing these goals are field work, coastal surveying, trench excavation, strata description and sampling--as well as radiocarbon dating for age control, and analysis of volcanic ash layers and of tsunami deposits. This project focuses on the region where the Emperor Seamount chain and the Aleutian-Komandorsky islands are colliding with Kamchatka, and where the subduction zone ends, with tectonic transition into the Bering Sea. The history of tsunamis and volcanic eruptions in this region has applications to the entire North Pacific and Bering Sea region--as a guide for understanding tectonic history, as a tool for correlation (for example, in the Aleutians), and as an indicator for natural-hazard analysis. Moreover, Kamchatka tsunamis affect localities and populations as distant as Hawaii and Chile. This project also will record the history of vegetation changes at selected sites via pollen analysis and macrovegetation studies. In cooperation with archaeologists, human-occupation levels will be recorded for potential future exploration, and for documenting the relationship between human habitation and geologic events. This project also will provide ages of basal peat horizons, which have implications for global carbon budgets and for climate-change models.