People | George
Davis
An Eclectic Active Tectonics Field Trip to
Southern California
Interested in seeing firsthand the interrelationships
of earthquakes, faulting, landslides, and society, our Active Tectonics
class of 17 students and 4 faculty explored the Los Angeles region. Colleagues
from academia and industry were our guides. On the morning of
Day 1, we visited the Southern California Earthquake Center (located
at USC), where Tom Henyey explained the SCEC Master Model, Jill Andrews
described technology transfer, and Kurt Abdouch discussed educational
outreach to schools. On the afternoon of Day 1, Bruce Clark,
President, Leighton & Associates, introduced us to the science,
engineering, and business of geohazards consulting, and then led us
on-site to see landslide hazards mitigation in action. On Day
2, Jim Dolan (USC) gave us a neotectonic tour of the northern L.A.
Basin, including Sunset Strip and the Hollywood fault at Hollywood
and Vine. On Day 3, Art Sylvester (UCSB) led us into the Eastern
Ventura Basin, where folds are growing, terraces are uplifting, and
oil is spilling out of the earth. On Day 4, Ed Keller and Larry
Gurrola (UCSB) walked us along folded, faulted, uplifted marine terraces,
and Tanya Atwater (UCSB) showed us her computer animations of the evolution
of the San Andreas fault. On Day 5, Tom Fumal (USGS, Menlo) took
us to the classic paleoseismic sites at Pallett Creek and Wrightwood,
whre we saw the fine stratigraphic details on which estimates of earthquake
recurrence intervals are based. On Day 6, we visited the San
Bernardino County Office of Emergency Services, where Denise Benson
described how this office, which resides in one of the most tectonically
active counties in the nation, prepares its citizens, its businesses,
and its government offices for THE BIG ONE. For most of us, this
was the first field trip expressly connected with geohazards and the
welfare of society. It made real the intellectual challenges
and opportunities that await those who direct their professional careers
to mitigation of loss of property and loss of life related to tectonic
hazards.
[Davis, G.H., and Beck, S.L., 1997, An eclectic active
tectonics field trip to southern California: Geological Society of
America Abstracts with Programs, v. 29, no. 6, p. 28.]
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