2022 Triangle of Doom Take Two



Friends of the Pleistocene
Pacific Cell
2022 Field Conference
Announcement Number One

The conveners of the 2022 Pacific Cell Friends of the Pleistocene Field Trip announce the dates for the 2022 event.

Please set your email vacation announcements now for the weekend of 26-28 August 2022 as you may be away from the office, in the field, exploring fascinating new interpretations of Quaternary old to modern evidences of tectonic, hydrologic, and anthropogenic process in the region of the Mendocino triple junction (A.K.A., the Triangle of Doom; Hemphill-Haley et al., 2006).

This trip will be a 2 ½ day excursion in southern and central Humboldt County, California.

On Friday 26 August, at the coast near Petrolia, CA, we will learn about the first peoples of the region, the tectonic setting, recent geodetic work, and evidence for prehistoric to historic earthquakes.
On Saturday 27 August, near Hydesville and Shively, CA, we will review fluvial terrace mapping in the Van Duzen and Eel River valleys and how those terraces have been offset during earthquakes.
On Sunday 28 August, at the headlands of Table Bluff, west of Loleta, CA, we will hear about recent work around Humboldt Bay that includes evidence for coseismic subsidence, evidence for tectonic deformation in Trinidad, how sedimentary process respond to climate change, how geodetic data may relate to the faults and earthquake cycle (possibly the most interesting debate to be had, don’t leave the trip early!), how soils geomorphology is a crucial tool in the region, and how the latest Tsunami Hazard Area maps have been updated in Humboldt County.

Friendly Yours,
Jay Patton
Bob McPherson
Mark Hemphill-Haley
Melanie Michalak
Sylvia Nicovich


The map above is a relative elevation map for the lower Eel River Valley. The color represents the relative elevation of the ground surface above the elevation of the wetted perimeter of the river. Locations with a higher relative elevation are lighter blue.

Here is some background on how to create an REM.



Announcement Number Two

We are excited to send out the second announcement for the 2022 Pacific Cell Friends of the Pleistocene field conference.

Registration is closed

As Obi Wan Kenobi told Luke Skywalker, in a galaxy far, far away, “you must do what you feel is right, of course.”

We are still working out the details for the trip, so you may anticipate another announcement with more trip details in the future.

    There are directions to the campsite in the Guidebook.

  • Thursday Night: A.W. Way Campground near Honeydew, CA https://humboldtgov.org/Facilities/Facility/Details/A-W-Way-1
  • Friday and Saturday Nights: Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District Pump Station 1 Park along the Mad River https://tinyurl.com/yembkp5v
  • We strongly advise that one take the Avenue of the Giants. This is the old HWY 101 that takes one through virgin old growth redwood groves from near Phillipsville to near Stafford. If you arrive late Thrs night, try this option on your way home as it is best taken during the day. If one does not stop at a grove for a short hike, this option only adds about 15 minutes to one’s journey.



FINAL Announcement



The Guidebook is now complete.

Please download here (150 mb PDF).
Jay remembers being concerned about large file sizes when he made the 2006 gb. He prepared lower resolution and black and white versions. Jay does not care about this anymore. ;-)

UPDATE 23 Aug 2022
There was a late breaking addition. Our contributor got late breaking internal review completed and we added their submission to the guidebook today. For those that downloaded the guidebook before today at 14:50 Pacific time, you will want to download this addendum. (We chose to place this as an addendum to avoid guidebooks with two different paginations.)

Here is the Vermeer et al. submission (5 mb PDF).

See you there!

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