Guest Lecture: Earthquake Country

Dr. Susan E. Hough, seismologist with the United States Geological Survey, will discuss earthquakes for her guest lecture at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands on Wednesday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m. This free guest lecture is open to the public.

Hough’s lecture will address out what we know—and don’t know—about earthquakes. She will separate fact from fiction and fill in many of the blanks that remained after plate tectonics theory, in the 1960s, first gave us a rough idea of just what earthquakes are about. How do earthquakes start? How do they stop? Do earthquakes occur at regular intervals on faults? If not, why not? Are earthquakes predictable? How hard will the ground shake following an earthquake of a given magnitude? How does one quantify future seismic hazard?

Hough is a seismologist with the United States Geological Survey in Pasadena, California, and has published more than forty articles in journals such as Nature, Science, Natural History, and the Journal of Geophysical Research. She has also written occasional editorials on earthquakes for the “Los Angeles Times.” She is the author of Finding Fault in California: An Earthquake Tourist’s Guide and Earthshaking Science: What We Know (and Don’t Know) about Earthquakes.

This presentation is the last of the 2005-06 a series of guest lectures offered at no charge by the county museum. The new series of lectures will kick off in September with a discussion of prehistoric rock art in Peru and Chile. Other topics in the museum’s eclectic 2006-07 guest lecture schedule will include archaeology in the Anza-Borrego Desert, hydroelectric power, penguin sexual politics, Saturn’s moon Enceladus, boiling volcano lakes, California historical connections, and forensic anthropology.

The San Bernardino County Museum is at the California Street exit from Interstate 10 in Redlands. Museum admission is free on Sunday, April 2. For more information, visit www.sbcountymuseum.org or call (909) 307-2669.

The San Bernardino County Museum is accessible to persons with disabilities. If assistive listening devices or other auxiliary aids are needed in order to participate in museum exhibits or programs, requests should be made through Museum Visitor Services at least three business days prior to your visit. Visitor Services’ telephone number is (909) 307-2669 ext. 229 or TDD (909) 792-1462.