PBO Talk at San Diego State University

Overview

March 11, 2008

On February 21, 2008 PBOs Siting Outreach Specialist Jayme Margolin gave a talk at the SDSU Brawley Campus entiled EarthScope: Revealing the Earth’s Secrets. The talk focused on uses of the Global Positioning System, in particular EarthScope infrastructure located in southern California, to better understand the earthquake cycle and plate tectonics. The talk was timely coming just days after a swarm of earthquakes occurred (including a M5.3) in the Cerro Prieto geothermal field just south of the US-Mexico border. The Cerro Prieto is connected via a buried spreading center to the Imperial fault which generated a M6.8 in 1940 and a M6.5 in 1979 with 30 km of surface rupture in the latter. This fault is adjacent to the SDSU Brawley Campus. The audience included high school and college students, faculty and college administration, and community members. During the talk, there was simultaneous Spanish translation for the mostly Hispanic audience.