Free "Giant Hawaiian Landslides and Tsunamis" presentation at Windward CC

Part of Community Forum in Chemistry series

Windward Community College
Contact:
Bonnie J. Beatson, (808) 235-7374
Marketing & Public Relations Director, Chancellor's Office
Letty Colmenares, (808) 236-9120
Associate Professor in Chemistry, Natural Sciences
Posted: Mar 10, 2011

Geophysicist Gerard Fryer
Geophysicist Gerard Fryer
On Tuesday, March 29 from 1 - 2 p.m., geophysicist Gerard Fryer will present “Giant Hawaiian Landslides and Tsunamis” at Windward Community College, Hale ‘Imiloa 111, as part of the spring Community Forum in Chemistry series.
 
When the sea floor around the Hawaiian Islands was mapped following the declaration of the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone in 1977, scientists were amazed to find that each island was surrounded by debris of truly gigantic landslides. Those landslides must have generated devastating tsunamis, making them popular subjects for disaster documentaries. By identifying and studying the deposits left throughout the islands by these tsunamis, we now think that these truly prodigious events are driven by climate change. The talk will explain why we do not expect the next giant landslide until after the next Ice Age.
 
Gerard Fryer has been a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center since 2005. He has worked as a research seismologist at Princeton University and at the University of Hawai‘i. Fryer became interested in tsunamis following a tsunami warning in 1994 and has served as an advisor on tsunami matters to the Oahu Civil Defense and State of Hawai‘i Civil Defense. He currently serves on the Hawai‘i State Earthquake Advisory Committee. In his spare time he explores and maps deposits from giant prehistoric tsunamis in the Hawaiian Islands.
 
The Community Forum in Chemistry is co-sponsored by Windward Community College and the American Chemical Society-Hawai‘i Section. For more information, call Letty Colmenares, Ph.D., associate professor in chemistry at 236-9120.