ALF ORTELIUS, HEAD of the US Geological Survey’s California office, was poring over reports when his senior seismologist, Leith Williams, rapped on the open door of his office.
‘What do you make of this?’ asked Williams, thrusting a series of files with cover sheets pinned to the front under his chief’s nose.
Ortelius frowned as he flipped through the files and examined the data, his eyebrows raising as its mean- ing emerged.
He leaned back in his chair, clasped his hands behind his head, and looked at Williams.