Hellweg's talk, "Below Zero: Learning from Small Earthquakes," is co-sponsored by the Los Alamos Women in Science organization and the museum.
The talk focuses on two small earthquakes that occurred in October of 2004. Both of the hypocenters from each earthquake were located almost directly below a Berkeley Seismological Laboratory monitoring borehole. Instruments recorded more than 4,000 foreshocks and aftershocks, with some of the micro-earthquakes registering magnitudes as small as negative two.
The talk will explore new insights gained through analysis of these small earthquakes associated with the two mainshocks.
"This talk will explore what these tiny earthquakes can tell us about how the Earth fractures," said Hellweg.
Hellweg received her doctorate from Universität Stuttgart in 2000. She is currently lecturing and doing research at the University of California, Berkeley and has an extensive background in both tectonic and volcanic seismological studies, including several years as a staff seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Bradbury Science Museum is located at 15th Street and Central Avenue in downtown Los Alamos. Museum hours apart from special events are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday and Monday. The museum is closed on federal holidays.
The Bradbury Science Museum is part of Los Alamos' Public Affairs Office.
For more information, contact Pat Berger at 665-0896.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.