Using Seismic Eruption to Investigate Earthquakes and Make Images

Name ___________________

To Start Program: Period ______

1. Double click on the Earth Science Group.

2. Double click on the Seismic Eruption Icon

Basics of the Program:

1. To get a menu of views select open view under the file menu.
2. To zoom in on an area you select Make Your Own Map under Map.
3. To change the color scale for depth, or the range of magnitudes select Magnitude/Depth scale under Earthquakes.
4. To save an image for use in a word processing document select Make Bitmap under the Option menu. Do not select Save View or Save View As.
5. Most menu options are self explanatory, so when you need to do something look for the options under the pull down menu.
6. To start the view over use the Restart button near the bottom of the screen. Do Not use Redraw.

Investigations:

You Need:

- a global plate tectonic map

-knowledge about the symbols for the 3 types plate boundaries.

-knowledge on the geographic names of certain plate boundaries

1. Select the Pacific Ocean view. Let the program run. Use a tectonic map to correlate the earthquake patterns to a specific plate boundary. By observing this view and zooming in (Make Your Own Map under Options) fill in the table below.

  Plate Boundary   Type of Boundary     General Characteristic of Quakes    
                                          (size, depth, width of zone)      

East Pacific Rise                                                           
                                                                            

Peru Chili Trench                                                           
                                                                            

Marianas Trench                                                             
                                                                            

San Andreas Fault                                                           
                                                                            

2. Select the U. S. Pacific Northwest view.

A. What time range does this view cover?

B. When and where were the largest earthquakes?

C. In a well written paragraph describe the seismic history of the Pacific Northwest from your observations of this view.

3. Return to the Pacific Ocean view and Make Your Own Map of the west coast of North America.

A. Be sure that includes all of the Juan de Fuca Plate and San Andreas Fault.

B. Notice that you can effect the color assignments for depth by adjusting the Magnitude/Depth Scale under the Earthquake menu. Select a range that gives you a wide spread of colors.

C. Notice you can impose plate boundaries by selecting Plates under the Map menu.

D. Drawing from the patterns that you can observe in this image, and what you know about plate tectonics, create a well written paragraph that describes why our region is vulnerable to earthquakes.