51ºÚÁÏ

BA, Smith College
PhD, Northern Arizona University

Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, 2023-2025
Visiting Assistant Professor, Washington and Lee University, 2022-2023

My research focuses on the interplay between low-strain-rate crustal faults and the subduction zone plate interface—specifically, what drives upper-plate deformation, and where, when, and how big past earthquakes were. 

Many low-strain-rate faults are not well-characterized. They can be obscured by vegetation, development, or natural landscape modification. As a field geologist, I incorporate tools and methods from different disciplines within Earth sciences to answer these questions. In addition to mapping bedrock, surficial deposits, and landforms in the field, from lidar, and from Digital Surface Models (DSMs) collected via drone to identify recent surface ruptures, I excavate paleoseismic trenches to expose offset deposits in the subsurface and develop rupture histories using radiocarbon and luminescence dating.

• Lynch, E.M., Regalla, C., Bennett, S.E.K., Morell, K.D., Leonard, L.J., Harrichhausen, N., Nissen, E., Kaufman, D., Lauch, M., Caston, M. Timing and magnitude of five late Pleistocene to Holocene earthquakes on the Beaufort Range fault, northern Cascadia forearc. in review at Geosphere
• Hatem, A.E., Hanagan, C.E., Reitman, N.G., Briggs, R.W., Nicovich, S.R., B¨urgi, P.M., Goldberg, D.E., Thompson Jobe, J.A., DuRoss, C.B., Lynch, E.M., Powell, J.H., Near-surface hydrologic influences on Sagaing fault surface rupture during the 2025 Mw7.7 Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar) earthquake. in review at Seismological Research Letters
• Reitman, N.G., Wang, Y., Kuo, Y.-T., Hanagan, C.E., Hatem, A.E., DuRoss, C.B., Chen, C.-C., Goldberg, D.E., Yin, H.Z., Briggs, R.W., Thompson Jobe, J.A., Nicovich, S.R., Lynch, E.M., Powell, J.H., Barnhart, W.D., Schmitt, R. Surface rupture and slip distribution of the 2025 M7.7 Mandalay earthquake and updated length scaling of supershear earthquakes. in revision for Seismological Research Letters.
• Lynch, E.M., Thompson Jobe, J., Briggs, R.W., Tan, M.M.*, Ortega Díaz, V.*, Hughes, S.K. Late Pleistocene kinematics of the Great Southern Puerto Rico fault zone, Puerto Rico. Seismological Research Letters. doi:10.1785/0220250116
• Lynch, E.M., Regalla, C., Morell, K.D., Harrichhausen, N., Leonard, L.J., 2025. Evidence for an active transtensional Beaufort Range fault in the northern Cascadia forearc. Seismica, v. 2, n. 4. doi:10.26443/seismica.v2i4.1163
• Harrichhausen, N., Finley, T. Morell, K.,D., Regalla, C., Bennett, S.E.K., Leonard, L.J., Nissen, E., McLeod, E.*, Lynch, E.M., Salomon, G., Sethanant, I., 2022. Discovery of an Active Forearc Fault in an Urban Region: Holocene Rupture on the XEOLXELEK–Elk Lake Fault, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Tectonics, v.42, n. 12. doi:10.1029/2023TC008170
• Harrichhausen, N., Morell, K.D., Regalla, C., Lynch, E.M., Leonard, L.J., 2022. Eocene terrane accretion in northern Cascadia recorded by brittle left-lateral slip on the San Juan fault. Tectonics, v. 41, n. 10. doi:10.1029/2022TC007317
• Regalla, C., Kirby, E., Mahan, S., McDonald, E., Pangrcic, H.*, Binkley, A.*, Schottenfels, E., LaPlante, A., Sethanant, I., Lynch, E.M., 2022. Late Holocene rupture history of the Ash Hill fault, Eastern California Shear Zone, and the potential for seismogenic strain transfer between nearby faults. Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, doi:10.1002/esp.5432
• Harrichhausen, N., Morell, K.D., Regalla, C., Bennett, S.E.K., Leonard, L.J., Lynch, E.M., Nissen, E., 2021. Paleoseismic trenching reveals late Quaternary kinematics of the Leech River fault: Implications for forearc strain accumulation in northern Cascadia. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., v. 111, n. 2, p.1-29. doi:10.1785/0120200204
• Delano, J.E., Amos, C.B., Loveless, J.P., Rittenour, T.M., Sherrod, B.L., Lynch, E.M., 2017. Influence of the megathrust earthquake cycle on upper-plate deformation in the Cascadia forearc of Washington State, USA. Geology, v. 45, n. 11, p. 1051-1054. doi:10.1130/G39070.1

*Indicates undergraduate or post-graduate researcher

• Lynch, E.M., Thompson Jobe, J., Briggs, R.W., DuRoss, C.B., Nicovich, S., Hanagan, C.E., Tan, M.M.*, López Venegas, A., Gray, H., Strickland, L.E., forthcoming 2025. Supporting Data for Late Pleistocene surface-rupturing earthquakes on the Great Southern Puerto Rico fault zone, Puerto Rico, U.S. Geological Survey data release.
• Reitman, N.G., Wang, Y., Kuo, Y.-T., Hanagan, C.E., Hatem, A.E., DuRoss, C.B., Barnhart, W.D., Yin, H.Z., Briggs, R.W., Thompson Jobe, J.A., Nicovich, S.R., Lynch, E.M., Powell, J.H., Schmitt, R.J., 2025. Remote surface rupture observations for the M7. 7 2025 Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar) earthquake. U.S. Geological Survey data release.
• Lynch, E.M., Thompson Jobe, J.A., Briggs, R.W., Tan, M.M.*, Ortega Díaz, V.*, Hughes, K.S., 2025. Supporting data for Late Pleistocene kinematics of the Great Southern Puerto Rico fault zone, Puerto Rico, U.S. Geological Survey data release.
• Lynch, E.M., Regalla, C., Morell, K.D., Harrichhausen, N., Leonard, L.J., 2025. Three-dimensional offsets of geomorphic piercing lines displaced by the Quaternary-active Beaufort Range fault, northern Cascadia forearc, BC, Canada, Dataset, Dryad.
• Hatem, A.E., Thompson Jobe, J., Briggs, R.W., Tan, M.*, Scharer, K., Hecker, S., DuRoss, C., Lynch, E., 2024. Western U.S. Date of Last Event (DOLE) for use in time-dependent probabilistic seismic hazard analyses, U.S. Geological Survey data release.
• Harrichhausen, N., Morell, K.D., Regalla, C., Lynch, E.M., Leonard, L.J., 2022. Eocene terrane accretion in northern Cascadia recorded by brittle left-lateral slip on the San Juan fault, Dataset, Dryad.

*Indicates undergraduate or post-graduate researcher