Lecture: Slowpoke quakes can kick-start faster rumbles

After years of tracking earthquake behavior, scientists have discovered there are two unique types of quakes – the fast and the slow. Most quakes are deemed “fast,” as they’re explosive bursts of energy. The “slow” quakes, on the other hand, take longer to unfold, and build intensity incrementally. Often those slowpoke quakes can kick-start the faster rumbles, which make them even more interesting to examine for scientists.

Gregory Beroza, Wayne Loel Professor and chair of the Department of Geophysics at Stanford University, will speak about these new earthquake distinctions in “The Tortoise and the Hare: Slow vs. Fast Earthquakes.” Beroza’s talk will begin at 7 p.m. in the Pioneer Park Theatre Monday, Sept. 17. This lecture is free and all ages are welcome.

Because Alaskans experience as many as 24,000 earthquakes in state per year, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology and Seismological Society of America’s Distinguished Lecture Series are supporting Beroza’s visit to Fairbanks. This will be the first IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lecture to be hosted in Alaska.

ON THE WEB: www.gi.alaska.edu http://www.iris.edu/hq/programs/education_and_outreach/distinguished_lectureship/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Gregory Beroza is available for in-person interviews on Monday, September 17.

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