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Blue Dot: The process of subduction with geophysicist Magali Billen, UC Davis

Enderts Beach and the coast range in Redwoods National Park was formed by subduction processes.
John Chao
/
NPS Photo
Enderts Beach and the coast range in Redwoods National Park was formed by subduction processes.

Host Dave Schlom visits with UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences geophysics professor Magali Billen to talk about one of Earth's most dynamic and complex processes, subduction.

Subduction zones are found throughout the Pacific Basin, and off the coast of Northern California to Canada is the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Professor Billen has been creating a 3-D computer model of Cascadia and shares her insights into how subduction creates volcanoes like the Cascades as well as being capable of unleashing the most destructive and largest magnitude earthquakes the planet is capable of.

It's a fascinating and deep dive from crustal plates into the Earth's mantle with one of the world's foremost experts on the topic!

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.
Matt Fidler is a producer and sound designer with over 15 years’ experience producing nationally distributed public radio programs. He has worked for shows such as Freakonomics Radio, Selected Shorts, Studio 360, The New Yorker Radio Hour and The Takeaway. In 2017, Matt launched the language podcast Very Bad Words, hitting the #28 spot in the iTunes podcast charts.