A presentation on the San Andreas Fault and its portrayal in movies will be featured at an upcoming Spring River Gem & Mineral Club meeting.
Dr. Josh Spinler will present “The San Andreas Fault: Hollywood’s Natural Playground (or How to Destroy Hollywood In Under Two Hours!)” when the club meets at 10 a.m. at The Thunderbird Center, 62 N. Lakeshore Rd., in Cherokee Village on Sept. 1.
According to a release from the club, Spinler was born and raised in southern Minnesota, where geology was limited to boulders in parks left by past glaciations and the occasional tar seep in old gravel pits. He originally attended the University of Wyoming as a physics and astronomy major, but after taking a physical geology course, he was hooked on earthquakes, volcanoes, and other natural disasters. Spinler obtained his Ph.D. in Geosciences at the University of Arizona. He then worked for a year as a post-doctoral researcher in the Tectonic Geodesy Laboratory. Since then, he has been at UA Little Rock as an advanced geology instructor and lab coordinator.
As part of his presentation, the release said Spinler “…likes to look at earthquake movies to see how accurately they are portrayed…And some don’t do a good job. He will show short clips from some of Hollywood’s biggest productions and discuss what they got right and what they got not–so–right.”
Spinler studies the San Andreas Fault, which is where two tectonic plates slide past each other, causing earthquakes. The fault runs through California, dividing it into two sections: the Pacific Plate, where Los Angeles is located, and the North American Plate, where San Francisco is located.
Visitors are invited to attend the meeting and a Dutch treat lunch with Dr. Spinler at an area restaurant after the meeting. For further information, call: (901) 212-0265 or (901) 647-1521.
