The San Andreas Fault system, and the looming threat of “The Big One,” has captivated people since its discovery in 1895. It’s inspired a big-budget disaster movie, but the disaster — an inevitable large-scale earthquake — will be bigger-budget than anything Hollywood can dream up. On this episode of Blue Dot, we hear from three experts on San Andreas who will weigh in on what will happen when the Big One comes, how the fault system works, and what we can do to minimize the impacts.
Lucy Jones is a retired US Geological Survey Seismologist, and Ken Hudnut is the guy who just took her place. We also speak with Carol Prentice from the USGS Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park.