Rate My Professor Chris Goldfinger

Chris Goldfinger is Professor Emeritus in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. He earned a BA in Geology and a BS in Geologic Oceanography from Humboldt State University in 1980, followed by an MS in Structural Geology in 1990 and a PhD in Structural Geology in 1994, both from Oregon State University. His academic career at Oregon State University included appointments as professor with a focus on marine geology and geophysics and paleoseismology. Goldfinger's research specializations encompass subduction earthquakes, paleoseismology, mechanics of oblique subduction, structural geology, accretion and erosion of active margins, seafloor imaging, mapping, and visualization techniques, and seafloor drilling technology. His work has addressed submarine paleoseismology offshore, lacustrine paleoseismology, earthquake recurrence, active oblique faulting and block rotation in the Cascadia subduction zone, the relationship of forearc deformation to earthquake potential in convergent margins, and the earthquake potential of plate boundary fault zones including Cascadia, Sumatra, Chile, and the Northern San Andreas Fault.

Goldfinger has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publications on topics such as deep-water turbidites as Holocene earthquake proxies for the Cascadia Subduction Zone and Northern San Andreas Fault systems, rupture lengths and temporal history of significant earthquakes, late Holocene rupture of the Northern San Andreas Fault, and turbidite event history methods and implications for Holocene paleoseismicity of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. He received the 2016 GSA Kirk Bryan Award for Quaternary Geology and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. Goldfinger has directed the Active Tectonics and Seafloor Mapping Laboratory at Oregon State University and participated in research cruises and studies spanning decades, including analyses of sediment cores representing thousands of years of geologic history.