The ‘Big One’–Coming Soon On a Fault Near You?

The San Andreas fault system is responsible for the formation of our most beloved and dramatic landscapes, and for the earthquakes that shake us up from time to time. In her illustrated lecture, Prof. Tanya Atwater will discuss the chance of someday predicting when and where the earth will break next, the same way weather forecasters predict storms. How far are we from such predictions? Using animations, simulations, maps and images, Prof. Atwater will demonstrate how specialists are finding out about longer term activity by studying sediment layers in the walls of trenches. We will learn how a “trench party” gleans information about possible future earthquakes, and vicariously experience what the next big one might be like.
Prof. emerita Tanya Atwater is UCSB’s very own “shock jock,” with a lifelong passion for maps and large-scale landscapes, both oceanic and terrestrial, and for the plate tectonic processes that create them. She is especially well known for her works on the plate tectonic evolution of western North America and the San Andreas fault system.
An outstanding teacher, Prof. Atwater’s animations are used in classrooms, teaching laboratories, museums, and public forums around the world. Prof. Atwater was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in 1997. Other recent honors include the National Science Foundation Director’s Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars and the Geological Society of America Structure and Tectonics Division’s Best Paper Award.

First Presbyterian Church
23 E. Constance Ave.
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
The First Presbyterian Church is located on the corner of State and Constance. The parking lot is entered on East Constance Ave. We will assemble in the small meeting room adjacent to the parking lot.

Cost: $10
Please make checks payable to UCSB History Associates
Detach at dotted line and mail to:
UCSB History Associates, Department of History, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9410

hm 11/5/10