Studying the ways engineers analyse why skyscrapers collapse – such as the fall of New York’s Twin Towers – could help scientists better understand killer earthquakes, according to Professor Gordon Lister from the Australian National University.
Professor Lister, a tectonic expert who looks at the dynamic architecture of the Earth, is the winner of the Australian Academy of Science’s 2012 Mawson medal for research in geology.
“Earthquakes result from catastrophic reduction in the load-bearing capacity of stressed mechanical structures” explains Professor Lister.
“They can be examined in the same way as an engineer would analyse failure and collapse of a major bridge, dam or even a large building.”
Professor Lister will present his work at the Shine Dome in Canberra today at 9.55 am as part of the Academy’s annual Science at the Shine Dome event.
“By understanding the dynamics of loading and how load-bearing structures interact, we should be able to determine the ideal locations for instruments to analyse or predict major earthquakes.”
Megathrust earthquakes occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates, where one plate is forced underneath another. These earthquakes are the world’s largest, with moment magnitudes of 9.0 or greater.
“Geoscience continues to improve its ability to forecast which megathrust segments are frictionally locked and tectonically loaded to the point of imminent failure,” Professor Lister said.
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