2013 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lectureship
The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and the
Seismological Society of America (SSA) are pleased to announce the selection
of two experienced speakers from the Earth Science research community for the
2013 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lectureship Series.
The speakers and their topics are:
Dr. Lara Wagner
Assistant Professor
Seismology and Tectonics Department of Geological Sciences
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Imaging the Ancient Margin:
How the Southeastern United States Was Built
(And Why You Should Care)
and
Dr. Gavin Hayes
Research Geophysicist
USGS National Earthquake Information Center
Golden Colorado
Mitigating Disasters: Earthquake Response in the 21th Century
Our speakers are chosen each year for their interesting subject matter as well as
their ability to convey scientific ideas to general public audiences. This Lecture
Series will start in January 2013. IRIS and SSA will cover all of the speakers’
travel and lodging costs for large public venues and can also provide free
seismology outreach materials. Please see the IRIS Web site for more
information on the 2013 series, as well as general information on the
Distinguished Lectureship program:
http://www.iris.edu/hq/programs/education_and_outreach/distinguished_lectureship
If you are interested in scheduling a speaker, please contact
Patrick McQuillan, mcquillan@iris.edu, 202-682-2220
2013 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lecture Series
http://www.iris.edu/hq/programs/education_and_outreach/distinguished_lectureship
2013 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lectureship
Dr. Lara Wagner
Assistant Professor
Seismology and Tectonics Department of
Geological Sciences
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina
Imaging the Ancient Margin:
How the Southeastern United States
Was Built
(And Why You Should Care)
Little is known about the structure of, or forces acting on, the southeastern United
States. Unlike the western United States, the eastern U.S. does not lie along a plate
tectonic boundary: the eastern edge of the North American plate is in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean. However, infrequent but sometimes dangerous natural disasters such
as the 1886 Charleston, SC earthquake and the smaller 2011 Mineral, VA earthquake
remind us that whereas these “passive” continental margins are far from plate
boundaries, they are not immune from the effects of plate tectonics.
The southeastern U.S. was assembled over the course of billions of years, spanning the
formation and destruction of two different super-continents. The result is an area
riddled with ancient faults, some of which are still seismically active, some of which are
not, and some we simply do not know very much about. Natural resources, such as
gems, gold, and natural gas, are also the product of these major tectonic events. We
are beginning to investigate the structure of the crust beneath our feet in order to learn
where resources might be located and how ancient tectonics might control which areas
have the highest seismic hazards. We are also trying to better understand the
magnitude and direction of the tectonic forces responsible for the rare but devastating
seismic activity observed over the past several centuries.
This talk will review what we do know about the tectonic history of the southeastern
U.S., its hazards and its resources, along with an overview of ongoing research efforts
and recent scientific advances.
2013 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lecture Series
http://www.iris.edu/hq/programs/education_and_outreach/distinguished_lectureship
2013 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lectureship
Dr. Gavin Hayes
Research Geophysicist
USGS National Earthquake Information
Center
Golden Colorado
Mitigating Disasters: Earthquake
Response in the 21th Century
Earthquakes are a natural part of the world we live in – a consequence of the relative
motions of tectonic plates, which make up the jigsaw puzzle of the Earth’s outer shell.
We cannot prevent them, and in a world in which populations are increasing – notably in
megacities that are often located in areas of high seismic hazard – we must learn to
better mitigate their impact.
At the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC)
a major component of risk reduction and mitigation is earthquake response. The more
quickly we can obtain and distribute accurate information related to an earthquake’s
location, size, likely impact, and other key characteristics, the more informed first
responders, government and aid agencies, the media, and the public themselves can
be – and the better they become - at dealing with an earthquake’s effects.
In this talk I will provide an overview of some of the NEIC’s recent advances in nearreal-time earthquake source modeling and impact assessment. These results provide
new insights into the detailed characteristics of the processes of earthquake rupture and
energy release, and allow NEIC to provide time-critical and accurate estimates of
earthquake impact that form actionable information for informed earthquake response
on the ground.
All of this rapid earthquake information also helps to inform and improve the Earth
Science community’s longer-term efforts in seismic hazard assessment and risk
reduction, and our research into earthquake behavior. Together with the excellent
research into earthquake processes being conducted in the academic world, our hope is
that we can use this expanding knowledge to not only better-understand the physics of
earthquake sources, but to drive improved risk mitigation in the future.
2013 IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lecture Series
http://www.iris.edu/hq/programs/education_and_outreach/distinguished_lectureship