Cal State Long Beach geologist and assistant professor Nathan Onderdonk will lead a discussion on how geologists estimate earthquake hazards and which areas could be affected next, focusing on the possibility of an earthquake on the San Andreas Fault.
“Anticipating the ‘Big One'” sponsored by the Fellows of the CSULB College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, will be at 6 p.m. on Oct. 6, in the campus Pyramid Annex conference room.
Onderdonk earned his Ph.D. in geology from UC Santa Barbara, followed by two years of post-doctoral research at the University of Oslo, Norway, studying Arctic geology.
Onderdonk teaches geomorphology, tectonic geomorphology, field ecology and natural disasters courses at CSULB.
According to Onderdonk, the discussion will start with the recent earthquake in Japan and some of the lessons that were learned from the natural disaster.
However, the main focus of the discussion will not be on Japan. Instead, Onderdonk will focus on the chance of a major earthquake nearby, possibly on the San Andreas Fault.
“[The San Andreas Fault] hasn’t ruptured in a while, certain parts of it are due for a major earthquake,” Onderdonk said.
The definition of a fault being overdue is hard to specify, Onderdonk said.
“For example, the San Jacinto Fault has typically had a major earthquake (a magnitude 7 or higher) once every 200 years on average,” Onderdonk said. “The last major earthquake on the San Jacinto Fault was in 1800 — that’s about 211 years ago. So, we’re kind of overdue, but you can’t get much better than that.”
Onderdonk said students should attend the discussion if they’re interested in learning more about earthquake hazard estimates.
“I think it’s something [students] need to be aware of,” he said. “Future scientists need to see where there’s room for improvement.”
“Anticipating the ‘Big One'” is open to the public, but reservations are required and seating is limited.
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