The April 2nd Wake-Up Shake: Santa Cruz’s Seismic Secrets with Emily Brodsky

The morning of April 2nd gave Santa Cruz a sharp reminder that the ground beneath our feet is never truly still. In this episode, we use that recent shake to uncover the seismic secrets lurking under our feet with Emily Brodsky, an earthquake scientist and UC Santa Cruz professor. From the legacy of the 1906 disaster to modern earthquakes triggered by geothermal energy and fracking, we explore the chain reactions that link tremors across the globe. As human activity shifts the stress on these deep-seated faults, we investigate if we are unknowingly triggering a cycle we can't stop. Is it possible to predict the next big shake, or will the next shift in the California coast, like the one on April 2nd, catch us all by surprise?The Brodsky Lab at UC Santa Cruz👉https://seismo.sites.ucsc.edu/emily-brodsky/ USGS Earthquake Map👉https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=30.20211,-134.84619&extent=43.53262,-103.20557&magnitude=all&listOnlyShown=true&showUSFaults=true&baseLayer=terrain&list=false 01:48 - First Impressions of the April 2nd Earthquake02:44 - Understanding the San Andreas Cycle and History04:58 - The Mechanics of Faults and Plate Motion09:20 - How Scientists Measure Friction and Take an Earthquake's Temperature14:06 - Human-Induced Seismicity: Fracking and Geothermal Energy23:33 - Global Chain Reactions and Triggering Patterns36:28 - Comparing Local History: Loma Prieta vs. 1906 and Today42:12 - Behind the Research: Living and Breathing Earthquakes