FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Megan Sever (msever@earthmagazine.org)

11/25/2013

EARTH Magazine: Old photos help scientists relocate 1906 San Francisco quake rupture point

Alexandria, VA – Geoscientists using every resource available to them — from bare-earth LIDAR technology to knowledge of turn-of-the-century fashion — have helped correct a 100-year-old mistake about where the San Andreas Fault rupture point was for the historic 1906 earthquake.

Braving poison oak and complicated earthquake policy, scientists spent years trying to locate the rupture point in California’s Portola Valley and finally succeeded courtesy of old photos. Read how the San Andreas Fault trace location was rediscovered in the December issue ofEARTH Magazine: http://bit.ly/1aTaOoM.

For the complete year-end edition of EARTH Magazine, including stories on how mega-quakes sank volcanoes in Chile and Japan, big changes from small glacial floods, and how geology is beer’s secret ingredient, subscribe to EARTH Magazine athttp://www.earthmagazine.org/digital.

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Keep up to date with the latest happenings in Earth, energy and the environment news with EARTH magazine online atwww.earthmagazine.org/. Published by the American Geosciences Institute, EARTH is your source for the science behind the headlines.

The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geosciences education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role geosciences play in society’s use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.