Internet Earthquakes Assignment:
By the end of this assignment you should gain an understanding of how earthquakes are measured and why they occur where they do. You’ll need internet access. You may answer on within this document, on a separate page, or neatly handwrite your answers. If you download this you can adjust the answer spaces as you need.
Part A:
In this section of the assignment, you will determine on-line the S-P travel times, epicenter, and magnitude of an earthquakes. Once you determine these earthquake features, you will print out a certificate of completion that you’ll hand in to me. Hopefully you will find this to be a fun little exercise that shouldn’t take too long.
Go to the Cal State-LA site https://www.sciencecourseware.com. You will see various geoscience virtual labs listed. Go to “Virtual Earthquake (Original)” athttps://www.sciencecourseware.org/VirtualEarthquake/. Go all the way to the bottom of the page where a green box says “Execute VirtualEarthquake” (see image to the right). In the original “virtual earthquakes” version, choose one of the featured locations (San Francisco area, Southern California, Japan, or Mexico) to complete the exercises. There is no class code entered, so don’t worry about putting one in when you are asked for this by the program. When you are ready to print out your “Virtual Seismologist” certificate, put your name in the appropriate blank. Enter “Scheffler” and the time of your lecture in the second blank, and “Spring 2015” in the third blank. Print the page that shows the filled-out certificate and the table of your results for the earthquake; you can mark and print the info, or copy and paste to a document and then print (or whatever you’re happy doing to get that results table and certificate to me). I need the table so I know which earthquake you did and how close you got with your results.Please avoid emailing me the certificates, particularly without the tables!
**BONUS OPPORTUNITY:** “Virtual Earthquake (Revised)” (where you see a big red “NEW”(athttps://www.sciencecourseware.com/eec/Earthquake/ is also kind of fun, but because it is very graphics-intensive it is may not be easily accessible for some. However, if you have the time and inclination you can do this one and turn in the finished questions and certificate to me for up to 10 points.The quiz is in the ‘epicenter and magnitude’ section of the main activities. Go straight to the “Take Quiz Now” button if you don’t need practice with the epicenter/magnitude determination. You may need to allow pop-ups for this application.Please note:This one is not required! Points you receive depend on how many questions of the ten you answer correctly. This exercise will give you a different certificate from the EQs above.
Part B (points as noted, total=23):You are welcome to use any site you find that has the proper information.Please use your own words where possible—cut-and-paste techno-babble will have points deducted! Feel free to format the answer spaces as you need.
1. Here are the five largest earthquakes form the last 100 years.
(https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/10_largest_world.php)
Location Date Magnitude
1. Chile
1960 05 22 9.5
2. 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake
1964 03 28 9.2
3. Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra
2004 12 26 9.1
4. Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan
2011 03 11 9.0
5. Kamchatka, Russia
1952 11 04 9.0
Plot the locations of the EQs from this table on the given map of the world’s tectonic plates (last page). Use the numbers 1-5 as above to label the map locations.
2. Consider where you plotted these five great earthquakes. What are the geologic conditions that caused each of these earthquakes? What do they all have in common geologically (pay attention to the plate tectonic settings)?
3. What kind of fault triggered all five of the above EQs? Hint: They’re all on the same kind of fault. Reverse Normal Detachment Right lateral Left lateral
4. Are large earthquakes likely to occur in the future in the general areas (not necessarily the exact epicenter) of the epicenters of these major EQs? Support your answerusing geologic reasoning.
5. People living near the epicenters of the five largest quakes above have another non-earthquake caused geologic hazard they need to be aware of. What is this other large-scale geologic threat? Hint: It is related to the plate tectonic setting that sets off the earthquakes.
6. To the right is a photo of the Richardson Highway in central Alaska taken after the largest recent EQ in the US. This M 7.9 EQ occurred on Nov. 3, 2002. Circle below the type of fault do you see offsetting the highway.
Reverse normal left lateral strike-slip right lateral strike-slip
In your own words,why did this large EQ result in zero human casualties? (hint: Google is your friend!)
7. Earthquakes have been very visible in the news in the last decade. Is the frequency of earthquakes worldwide increasing? Tell me why you say so. Find and cite an article that supports your answer. A word of caution here: when you come to your decision pay attention to the provider of the article you choose. You do not have to use a science-based article, but keep the information source in mind when you decide whether you need to panic.
8. We have (or will have) talked about the Seismic Gap Method and other scientific techniques for predicting probabilities of earthquake occurrence. For a change of pace, find a notable non-scientific method people claim will predict earthquakes. For this answer, the wilder and less scientific the better! Use your own words to explain the “technique” include your complete reference.