Collaborative Research: Geological Hazards, Climate Change, and Human/Ecosystems Resilience in the Islands of the Four Mountains, Alaska.

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Assessing the degree to which geological hazards in the Aleutian archipelago disrupted prehistoric human and ecological systems has important lessons for current inhabitants of the northern Pacific Rim. The Islands of Four Mountains region embodies environmental instabilities that, in the last 10,000 years, include changing subarctic climate, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and sea level fluctuations. Compared to adjacent regions to the east and west, strong ocean currents and smaller island size magnify ecologically-driven resource extremes, perhaps creating a physical bottleneck and the cultural boundary that persisted into the early 20th century. These islands provide an excellent opportunity to assess the development of prehistoric human adaptations to geological hazards and environmental change. That such research has not already occurred is understandable. The same volcanic activity, precipitous coastlines, high winds, and strong riptides that may have posed profound risks to prehistoric individuals hinder modern research expeditions. The Four Mountain prehistoric sites are little studied but are highly significant in light of new geologic data indicating volcanic activity during human migration and societal development in the Aleutian archipelago. A team of professional and student archaeologists, geologists, ecologists, and zoologists will conduct a comprehensive, interdisciplinary three-year investigation in the Islands of the Four Mountains. Extensive new radiocarbon, geological, paleoenvironmental, and cultural data expected from these sites will yield novel insights into the record of geological hazards, human coping mechanisms, changing subsistence, and adaptations during the prehistoric and European contact periods.The Islands of the Four Mountains are located in an ecologically and economically important region of the world - the north Pacific and Bering Sea. People on two continents rely on fish from its marine ecosystem, and, given the sensitivity of airplanes to volcanic ash and of coastal cities to tsunamis, its geologic hazards potentially affect all nations of the northern Pacific Rim. Comprehensive research on long-term human-environmental interactions in the Bering Sea region, set against a backdrop of accelerated global change, is vital to understanding the dynamics of Aleutian biological and human systems and effectively addressing the social, political, and economic issues that arise from changes in those system dynamics today. The island group lies in a zone of high catastrophic potential in that one of its volcanoes, Mt. Cleveland, has erupted explosively more than 20 times in the last decade (as recently as May 2013) and during the time of prehistoric human habitation. The Aleutian plate boundary is the site of four earthquakes having a magnitude greater than 8 and dozens with magnitudes greater than 7, and these have generated tsunamis historically and prehistorically. Through partnerships with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the Aleut Corporation, Museum of the Aleutians, and the Keck Geology Consortium this project will bring scientists, Native Americans, students and policy makers together in education and collaboration.