Drilling for Earthquakes

March 28, 2016

To Cathy Wallace, the earthquakes that have been rattling her tidy suburban home in Dallas feel like underground thunderstorms. First comes a distant roar, then a boom and a jolt. Her house shakes, and the windows shudder. Framed prints on the walls clatter and tilt. A heavy glass vase tips over with a crash.

The worst moments are the ones between the rumble and the impact. “Every time it happens you know it’s going to hit, but you don’t know how severe it’s going to be,” she says. “Is this going to be a bigger one? Is this the part where my house falls down? It’s scary. It’s very scary.”

Scientific American, March 28, 2016

Featuring: Cliff Frohlich, Senior Research Scientist / Associate Director, Institute for Geophysics