CSULB Feels the Earth Move–Or Not
Photo Credit: Dot Cannon
Special seismic equipment "shakes up" CSULB.
Dot Cannon
August 11, 2010
Filed under newspaper2 2010
The earth moved, the buildings shook—and the students didn’t notice.
Special-equipment trucks rolled at CSULB on Monday, as part of a seismic survey sponsored by Signal Hill Petroleum. Public-relations consultant Diane Ripley said the trucks were mapping all of Long Beach for possible earthquake faults.
Ripley said the survey is done by implanting recording devices, called “nodes,” in the ground. Each “node” is about 6 inches is diameter and 7 inches tall. Once underground, the nodes send energy to fourteen thousand feet beneath the earth’s surface. As this motion causes the earth to vibrate, the nodes send recorded data to a sophisticated computer, according to a brochure Ripley provided. The computer then generates a three-dimensional picture of the earth’s crust.
Students on-campus had been warned beforehand that the buildings would shake. Ripley said that the survey had started in spring of this year, and that explaining the shaking to residents, beforehand, was an important part of the process.
“Forty-five minutes to an hour before the trucks arrive, we (do) outreach,” Ripley said. “We’re big-time (interested in) safety. We had two police escorts, there’s a curiosity factor.”
Ripley said that talking with residents was a definite “fun” aspect. “I had a lady say to me, ‘Oh, honey, you’re walking the streets.’ So she kind of gave me that little tag
line. “ She also said she found the residents’ concern for her “cute.” “Residents, when they see me, (say,) “Darling, are you all right?” Ripley said. “I say, ‘I’m fine, I’m here with the trucks.’”
Despite the shaking of some CSULB buildings, none of the surrounding students said they’d felt the motion. Political-science major Jeff Young, when asked if he’d noticed it, said, “No—I’m just out of a test.”
