Speaker Bio: Located in Napa, CA, Brenna is committed to thoughtfully applying the science of geology to the world of wine through both education and hands-on vineyard investigations.  She works with wine professionals in all areas of the trade, from growers in France to importers and buyers in the US, in order to precisely define the most impactful elements of their terroirs in a relevant and approachable manner. She is also the founder and host of Roadside Terroir, a podcast program that drives you through the wines, geology, and culture of your favorite wine regions. The first season covers Santa Barbara County and is out now.
Brenna received her Bachelor’s Degree in Aquatic Biology and Geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2012, where she stayed on to earn her Masters in Geology with Dr. Phil Gans in 2015. Her research focused on geologic mapping and structural geology (how and why rocks deform). She has also worked extensively in the mining industry where she further developed her skills in geologic mapping and interpretation, soil sampling, and geophysical surveying. During her time at UCSB, Brenna spent her free time exploring the wine country of Santa Barbara, and began working at her favorite tasting room on the weekends. It was there, working with Seth and Magan Kunin that she fell in love with the wine industry and the complex concept of terroir.
Recently, Brenna has had the great privilege of working with growers, producers, sommeliers, and importers all over the world. From her backyard in the Napa Valley, to diverse regions in the old world including France, Italy, Austria, and Spain.

Abstract: The Missoula Floods are perhaps the most well-known cataclysmic flooding events from the geologic record. The destructive power and mind-bending proportions of these floods have provoked awe and disbelief as tenacious geologists meticulously pieced together the natural impacts and causes of the floods. The floods were sourced by Glacial Lake Missoula that formed when an ice dam held back the Clark Fork River in what is modern-day Montana. Estimates of the lake indicate it measured about 7,770 km2 and contained about 2,100 km3 of water, half the volume of Lake Michigan. Once unleashed, this massive amount of water swept over Idaho and Eastern Washington in a 3-day window at a highest estimated flux of 2.7 million m³/s, 13 times the Amazon River. While the Missoula Floods remain one of the most shocking abrupt events known in the geologic record, it is perhaps the human behavior of geologists that worked to prevent the acceptance of cataclysmic flooding that remains the greatest cautionary tale associated with the unraveling of the Missoula Floods story.

Abstract: In early April 2020, a large regional storm-induced landslide event affected multiple communities in northern San Diego County. In particular, early on the evening of Friday April 10, a large debris flow impacted a beloved local tennis club, residential community, assisted-living facility, and charter school in Encinitas and caused upwards of $1 million in damage. In late April, Burgess traveled to the impacted area and made field observations. UAS-based imagery was obtained from the tennis club, and subsequent work with Alex Morelan (Engineering Geologist, CGS) was essential for performing change detection and slide volume calculations within the inundation zone of the debris flow. Approximately 2,500 cubic meters of debris traveled approximately one kilometer from its source; luckily the bulk of the debris (approximately 2,000 cubic meters) was contained by tennis court fencing, which saved the downstream area from more significant damage. The importance of characterizing the debris flow and other landslides as completely as possible led to the additional gathering of meteorological data for the storm event. Stefani Lukashov (Engineering Geologist, CGS) provided analysis of available regional and local precipitation data for the storm event, which successfully documented triggering rainfall conditions responsible for the landslide and debris flow activity. In all, more than 40 separate landslide events, including the debris flow, occurred within an approximate 48-hour period of time during and immediately following the largest recorded rainfall on record in northern San Diego County. The cataloging of these landslide events has added a robust collection of new data to the CGS Recent Landslides database, demonstrating the utility of this innovative data product.