Word: seismologists
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During the 1906 tremor, the plates on either side of the San Andreas lurched past each other by as much as 20 ft. Over time, such jumps add up. "In 30 million years," Berkeley seismologist Bruce Bolt says, "Los Angeles will become a new suburb of San Francisco...
...Andreas fault system divides the Pacific plate and the North American plate, which grind past each other at the pace of 2 in. a year. But this movement of the plates is not uniform. Along fault zones the plates tend to become "locked," resisting the overall motion. Explains Berkeley seismologist Robert Uhrhammer: "Stress builds up in these areas that are in effect welded shut. It's as if the rock were being stretched like a big rubber sheet." At a certain point the rock snaps, allowing the plates to slip and release stress. The result is an earthquake...
...unprecedented arrangement will allow U.S. seismologists to place three monitoring stations within 100 miles of Semipalatinsk, 1,800 miles from Moscow in eastern Kazakhstan, and Soviet scientists to erect their sensors near Yucca Flats, Nev., where U.S. universities have monitored underground tests for years. (Atmospheric tests were halted in 1963 after the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty.) The U.S. team, led by University of Colorado Seismologist Charles Archambeau, will place digital seismometers in three 300-ft.-deep holes drilled by the Soviets. A two-man team will remain near Semipalatinsk to monitor the findings...
DIED. Charles F. Richter, 85, pioneer seismologist who between 1932 and 1935 helped devise the Richter scale, universally used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes; of coronary-artery disease; in Pasadena, Calif. Richter's interest in earthquakes was so great, he had a seismograph installed in his living room. In his final days, he avidly followed news reports on the Mexico City temblors from his hospital...
Last week's disaster may lead to more insights. Scientists had earlier set up sophisticated seismological instruments in and around the Michoacan gap, and the devices were working when the spasm occurred. Says Seismologist James Brune of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography: "It will be the best-recorded major quake ever...