Kelly M. Ferguson

California State University, Fullerton

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Peter J. Haeussler

United States Geological Survey

Jeanette C. Arkle

Augustana College

Phillip A. Armstrong

Morgan Advanced Materials (United Kingdom)

Thomas L. Pratt

United States Geological Survey

Lee M. Liberty

Boise State University

S. Finn

Boise State University

Carolyn A. Rath

California State University, Fullerton

Eric Sun

Stanford University

Jeffrey R. Knott

California State University, Fullerton

Joanna M. Fantozzi

California State University, Fullerton

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California State University, Fullerton

United States Geological Survey

Geological Survey of Canada

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

University of Utah

Boise State University

Geologic Hazards Science Center

University of Washington

University of the Free State

The University of Texas at El Paso

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Focused rock uplift above the subduction décollement at Montague and Hinchinbrook Islands, Prince William Sound, Alaska

Geosphere (2014)

Kelly M. Ferguson Phillip A. Armstrong Jeanette C. Arkle Peter J. Haeussler

Megathrust splay fault systems in accretionary prisms have been identified as conduits for long-term plate motion and significant coseismic slip during subduction earthquakes. These fault systems are important because of their role in generating tsunamis, but rarely are emergent above sea level where their long-term (million year) history can be studied. We present 32 apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) and 27 apatite fission-track (AFT) ages from rocks along an emergent megathrust splay fault system in the Prince William Sound region of Alaska above the shallowly subducting Yakutat microplate. The data show focused exhumation along the Patton Bay megathrust splay fault system since 3–2 Ma. Most AHe ages are younger than 5 Ma; some are as young as 1.1 Ma. AHe ages are youngest at the southwest end of Montague Island, where maximum fault displacement occurred on the Hanning Bay and Patton Bay faults and the highest shoreline uplift occurred during the 1964 earthquake. AFT ages range from ca. 20 to 5 Ma. Age changes across the Montague Strait fault, north of Montague Island, suggest that this fault may be a major structural boundary that acts as backstop to deformation and may be the westward mechanical continuation of the Bagley fault system backstop in the Saint Elias orogen. The regional pattern of ages and corresponding cooling and exhumation rates indicate that the Montague and Hinchinbrook Island splay faults, though separated by only a few kilometers, accommodate kilometer-scale exhumation above a shallowly subducting plate at million year time scales. This long-term pattern of exhumation also reflects short-term seismogenic uplift patterns formed during the 1964 earthquake. The increase in rock uplift and exhumation rate ca. 3–2 Ma is coincident with increased glacial erosion that, in combination with the fault-bounded, narrow width of the islands, has limited topographic development. Increased exhumation starting ca. 3–2 Ma is interpreted to be due to rock uplift caused by increased underplating of sediments derived from the Saint Elias orogen, which was being rapidly eroded at that time.

North American Plate

10.1130/ges01036.1

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Focused exhumation along megathrust splay faults in Prince William Sound, Alaska

AGUFM (2011)

Peter J. Haeussler Phillip A. Armstrong Lee M. Liberty Kelly M. Ferguson S. Finn

Abstract Megathrust splay faults are a common feature of accretionary prisms and can be important for generating tsunamis during some subduction zone earthquakes. Here we provide new evidence from Alaska that megathrust splay faults have been conduits for focused exhumation in the last 5 Ma. In most of central Prince William Sound, published and new low-temperature thermochronology data indicate little to no permanent rock uplift over tens of thousands of earthquake cycles. However, in southern Prince William Sound on Montague Island, apatite (U–Th)/He ages are as young as 1.1 Ma indicating focused and rapid rock uplift. Montague Island lies in the hanging wall of the Patton Bay megathrust splay fault system, which ruptured during the 1964 M9.2 earthquake and produced ∼9 m of vertical uplift. Recent geochronology and thermochronology studies show rapid exhumation within the last 5 Ma in a pattern similar to the coseismic uplift in the 1964 earthquake, demonstrating that splay fault slip is a long term (3–5 my) phenomena. The region of slower exhumation correlates with rocks that are older and metamorphosed and constitute a mechanically strong backstop. The region of rapid exhumation consists of much younger and weakly metamorphosed rocks, which we infer are mechanically weak. The region of rapid exhumation is separated from the region of slow exhumation by the newly identified Montague Strait Fault. New sparker high-resolution bathymetry, seismic reflection profiles, and a 2012 M w 4.8 earthquake show this feature as a 75-km-long high-angle active normal fault. There are numerous smaller active normal(?) faults in the region between the Montague Strait Fault and the splay faults. We interpret this hanging wall extension as developing between the rapidly uplifting sliver of younger and weaker rocks on Montague Island from the essentially fixed region to the north. Deep seismic reflection profiles show the splay faults root into the subduction megathrust where there is probable underplating. Thus the exhumation and extension in the hanging wall are likely driven by underplating along the megathrust decollement, thickening in the overriding plate and a change in rheology at the Montague Strait Fault to form a structural backstop. A comparison with other megathrust splay faults around the world shows they have significant variability in their characteristics, and the conditions for their formation are not particularly unique.

Thermochronology

Seafloor Spreading

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Focused exhumation along megathrust splay faults in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Quaternary Science Reviews (2014)

Peter J. Haeussler Phillip A. Armstrong Lee M. Liberty Kelly M. Ferguson S. Finn

Megathrust splay faults are a common feature of accretionary prisms and can be important for generating tsunamis during some subduction zone earthquakes. Here we provide new evidence from Alaska that megathrust splay faults have been conduits for focused exhumation in the last 5 Ma. In most of central Prince William Sound, published and new low-temperature thermochronology data indicate little to no permanent rock uplift over tens of thousands of earthquake cycles. However, in southern Prince William Sound on Montague Island, apatite (U–Th)/He ages are as young as 1.1 Ma indicating focused and rapid rock uplift. Montague Island lies in the hanging wall of the Patton Bay megathrust splay fault system, which ruptured during the 1964 M9.2 earthquake and produced ∼9 m of vertical uplift. Recent geochronology and thermochronology studies show rapid exhumation within the last 5 Ma in a pattern similar to the coseismic uplift in the 1964 earthquake, demonstrating that splay fault slip is a long term (3–5 my) phenomena. The region of slower exhumation correlates with rocks that are older and metamorphosed and constitute a mechanically strong backstop. The region of rapid exhumation consists of much younger and weakly metamorphosed rocks, which we infer are mechanically weak. The region of rapid exhumation is separated from the region of slow exhumation by the newly identified Montague Strait Fault. New sparker high-resolution bathymetry, seismic reflection profiles, and a 2012 Mw4.8 earthquake show this feature as a 75-km-long high-angle active normal fault. There are numerous smaller active normal(?) faults in the region between the Montague Strait Fault and the splay faults. We interpret this hanging wall extension as developing between the rapidly uplifting sliver of younger and weaker rocks on Montague Island from the essentially fixed region to the north. Deep seismic reflection profiles show the splay faults root into the subduction megathrust where there is probable underplating. Thus the exhumation and extension in the hanging wall are likely driven by underplating along the megathrust décollement, thickening in the overriding plate and a change in rheology at the Montague Strait Fault to form a structural backstop. A comparison with other megathrust splay faults around the world shows they have significant variability in their characteristics, and the conditions for their formation are not particularly unique.

Thermochronology

Seafloor Spreading

Earthquake rupture

10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.10.013

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Paleowind velocity and paleocurrents of pluvial Lake Manly, Death Valley, USA

Quaternary Research (2012)

Jeffrey R. Knott Joanna M. Fantozzi Kelly M. Ferguson Summer E. Keller Khadija Nadimi

Abstract Pluvial lake deposits are found throughout western North America and are frequently used to reconstruct regional paleoclimate. In Death Valley, California, USA, we apply the beach particle technique (BPT) of Adams (2003), Sedimentology, 50, 565–577 and Adams (2004), Sedimentology, 51, 671–673 to Lake Manly deposits at the Beatty Junction Bar Complex (BJBC), Desolation Canyon, and Manly Terraces and calculate paleowind velocities of 14–27 m/s. These wind velocities are within the range of present-day wind velocities recorded in the surrounding area. Sedimentary structures and clast provenance at Desolation Canyon and the Manly Terraces indicate sediment transport from north to south. Lake level, based on the elevation of constructional features, indicates that the hill west of the BJBC was an island and that the BJBC spits formed during simple lake regression. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the present wind regime (velocity and direction) formed the pluvial Lake Manly features.

Pluvial

10.1016/j.yqres.2012.06.007

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Rock uplift above the subduction megathrust at Montague and Hinchinbrook Islands, Prince William Sound, Alaska

PhDT (2013)

Kelly M. Ferguson

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THERMOCHRONOLOGIC CONSTRAINTS ON MEGATHRUST SPLAY FAULTING IN THE TRANSITION FROM STRIKE-SLIP TO CONVERGENCE IN THE SOUTHERN PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND, ALASKA

2012 GSA Annual Meeting in Charlotte (2012)

Kelly M. Ferguson

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Effects of the Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act on Fda Review Times for Medical Devices

SSRN Electronic Journal (2018)

Eric Sun Kelly M. Ferguson

In the United States, the safety and efficacy of medical devices are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which must successfully navigate a crucial tradeoff between speed and safety in approving applications for new devices. Although a shorter (and potentially less thorough) approval process could benefit patients by resulting in quicker access to potentially life-saving therapies, the potential benefits could be outweighed if a shorter approval process allows more unsafe devices to enter the market. In 2002, Congress passed the Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act (MDUFA), with the aim of pushing the FDA toward the speed side of the tradeoff. The MDUFA levied large user fees on manufacturers of medical devices in exchange for the promise of shorter review times by the FDA. Whether the Act has resulted in shorter review times is unclear. We conducted a regression analysis using data on FDA review times for devices seeking approval between 1991 and 2012 to address this question. During the pre-MDUFA era (1991–2002), review times for new devices fell by 8% annually for device applications submitted for approval under the more stringent process of premarket approval and fell by 4.5% annually for devices submitted under the less stringent premarket notification, or 501(k), process. These trends continued during the initial MDUFA era (2003–2008), as well as during the initial period after the law's reauthorization (2008–2012). Our results suggest that, for the years studied, the MDUFA was associated with a smaller annual decline in review times and does not appear to have achieved its intended goal of reducing review times for medical devices.

Medical device

10.2139/ssrn.3191416

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Rock Uplift above the Yakutat Megathrust on Montague Island, Prince William Sound, Alaska

AGUFM (2011)

Kelly M. Ferguson Phillip A. Armstrong Peter J. Haeussler Jeanette C. Arkle

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Citations (2)