Ayla Nguyen

Areas of interest

Resolving millennial-scale history of past earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes in Anegada, British Virgin Islands.

Anegada experiences frequent hurricanes and less frequent tsunamis. The island is a prime location for examining paleo-evidence for past earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes because it is low-lying (8 masl), which is susceptible to marine inundation, and situated east of the Caribbean Sea with nothing obstructing tsunamis or hurricanes originating in the Atlantic Ocean. Surrounded by fringing reefs, overwash deposits provide diagnostic materials that provide a history of past events that resolve the timing and magnitude of past earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes. My research will incorporate sedimentological, micropaleontological, and geochemical analyses as well as inverse suspension modelling of overwash deposits from this carbonate reef coastline. The goal is to enhance our understanding of storms, tsunamis, and seismic risks to Anegada and coastlines facing the Atlantic Ocean, including Canada.