One of the problems in dealing with earthquakes is visualising them in 3-D. It can give a better idea of what is going on but there were no good ways of doing it back then. Stereo pairs were limited to a single view. We needed a 3-D model which could be viewed from all angles.
Holography seemed to hold some promise so I was directed to investigate the possibilities. After attending a seminar in Lake Forest IL I became convinced that rainbow sterograms would be a good first step. These are made by converting hundreds of stereo pairs to holograms, each as very narrow strips. When the strips are arranged side by side, each eye sees a different pair, giving a 3-D image. The large number of strips allows one to see different angles of view as the picture is rotated.
The first attempt showed a view of Aleutian Island seismicity and was used as a give-away at one of the conferences that year.
The next version was much better. It showed the Loma Prieta earthquake and its' aftershocks and was used as the cover illustration for the special edition of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America in October 1991 devoted to that event.
Only one other hologram was made and it was never distributed. The high cost of producing holograms prevented further use and the project was dropped.
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