My research focuses on understanding active tectonic processes along plate boundaries over a range of timescales from seconds (earthquakes) to 10s-100s of years (e.g., post-earthquake and inter-earthquake motions) to millions of years (plate boundary evolution, mountain building etc.). To do this I combine observations of deformation at Earth’s surface (e.g., faulting, uplift/erosion, exhumation) with geodynamic modeling techniques. Some of my current research topics include:

• Evaluating fault slip rates along active faults within the foothills of the Himalaya
• Separating superimposed signals of crustal deformation at the Mendocino Triple Junction (the transition from the Cascadia subduction zone to San Andreas transform tectonics)
• Permanent deformation and the development of forearc topography at subduction plate boundaries

• McKenzie, K.A., Kelsey, H.M., Kirby, E., Rittenour, T.M., Furlong, K.P. (2022). Differential coastal uplift quantified by luminescence dating of marine terraces, central Cascadia forearc, Oregon, Quaternary Science Reviews, 298, 107853, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107853
• McKenzie, K.A., Furlong, K.P., Herman, M.W. (2022). Regional and local patterns of upper-plate deformation in Cascadia: the importance of the down-dip extent of locking relative to upper-plate strength contrasts, Tectonics, 41(1), e2021TC007062, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021TC007062
• McKenzie, K.A., Furlong, K.P., (2021). Isolating Non-Subduction-Driven Tectonic Processes in Cascadia, Geoscience Letters, 8(10), https://doi.org/10.1186/s40562-021-00181-z