Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México

Scientists and Artists working together for the planet sustainability is a trend in science communication getting day by day new adepts all over the world. For instance, some Science Institutes have introduced the Artist-in-residence, to increase the opportunities of co-operation to spread in a new intriguing way scientific research. Nevertheless, our Session at EGU 2015, the greatest venue in Europe gathering more than 10.000 scientists involved in the different geophysical disciplines, was the first of the kind. The session was warmly welcomed and successful, with the participation of digital artists, scientists and performers, visual artists, musicians, geologists and geophysicists, photographers and paleontologists. We would like to share with the world wide community of science communicators our experience as pioneers in such circumstances. This will be the occasion to describe the work we have done to establish the first nucleus of a community that can facilitate the identification of more and more effective methods to educate people to a life-style respectful of the planet and its inhabitants. It would also be the occasion to show the motivations behind our attempt to bridge the two cultures bringing together the communities of scientists and artists in a mutual and fruitful co-operation.

There is a longstanding and intimate relationship between myths and the Earth. Myths represent human beings in childhood when a primitive language made of symbols transmitted the wisdom necessary to live in harmony with nature. Today science uses mainly the language of data. Nevertheless, myths and legends are still popular and part of our culture, and the Earth sciences remain confined mostly to the world of scientists. This paper is an attempt, from the perspective of science communication, to provide a theory that uses myths and legends to stimulate the curiosity of the man in the street about the planet we live on. Recent studies have demonstrated that fictional stories can be used to convey science to the general public in an accurate, memorable and enjoyable way. Following these ideas, we believe that myths can be a useful tool for Earth science studies, learning and popularization.

A very large earthquake took place on 28 March 1787 along the Mexican subduction zone. A unique characteristic of the 1787 event is the large tsunami reported at various coastal locations in southern Mexico. The segment of the coast affected by the strong tsunami coincides with locations where high felt intensities (modified Mercalli intensity [MMI] >VIII) were reported. Assuming, as is generally the case for large and great earthquakes in Mexico, that the fault rupture of the 1787 earthquake encompasses the areas where intensities greater than VIII were reported and where a strong tsunami invaded land, the estimated length of the rupture is approximately 450 km long. This fault length would correspond to an earthquake of approximately Mw 8.6. In the instrumental record there is no evidence of earthquakes of this magnitude in the Middle American subduction zone. This evidence indicates that the rupture area of the 1787 earthquake was at least three times longer that those normally observed for earthquakes that take place in the Mexican subduction zone. The 1787 earthquake appears to have ruptured a long fault segment that more recently broke in earthquakes of more moderate magnitude (Mw 7–8) and relatively short recurrence times of about 30 to 40 yr. Examples of this mode of variable rupture length where great but infrequent earthquakes rupture the fault areas of relatively smaller and more frequent earthquakes have been observed in the Sumatra–Andaman and Colombia–Ecuador plate boundaries, among others.