Wallace to bring earthquakes to life for Café Scientifique New Mexico series

School-age teens to learn about and discuss a decade of great earthquakes

Seismic expert Terry Wallace, principal associate director for Global Security (PADGS), will present an exciting look at earthquakes for Northern New Mexico high-school-age students as part of the Café Scientifique New Mexico program. The fun, free conversation series provides a way for teens to explore the latest ideas in science and technology.

Wallace's talk is titled, "A Decade of Great Earthquakes: Is the Mayan Apocalypse Coming True?"

The program discusses the fact that since December 2004, 16 earthquakes of magnitude 8 or stronger have occurred globally. In the 100 previous years up to 2004, there was an average of one magnitude 8 earthquake every two years. Wallace will talk about this remarkable time period of seismicity and its possible implications, and how it has seismologists rethinking their understanding about plate tectonics and the connectivity between giant earthquakes.

Wallace will present at five separate events in the region:

• 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at Northern New Mexico College, Room 207;
• 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 20, at Los Alamos Research Park, 2nd Floor conference room;
• 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 26 at the University of New Mexico Center for High Tech Materials;
• 7 p.m. on Sept. 27 at Santa Fe Indian School.

Café Scientifique is a program that brings teens together to explore, discuss, and debate the latest ideas in science and technology.