Download Earthquake Webquest

Name _____________________________pd.____ Seat #______ Color ______________
I.
Earthquakes Webquest
Earthquakes For Kids (USGS) - Go to: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/kids/
1. Select “Latest Quakes”.
2. Select “Top 10” Lists and maps from the very bottom of the page.
i. Scroll down and select “Earthquake information by state”.
ii. Select “Massachusetts”
iii. Scroll down and select “Largest Earthquake in Massachusetts: 1755
November 18, Intensity VIII” under Notable earthquakes.
1. Where did the heaviest damage occur? _______________________
2. Due to the strength of the earthquake what did people on the ship
believed had happened?
___________________________________
iv. Use your back browser to go back to the previous page.
v. Select “Last quake in Massachusetts”. Select “Massachusetts”
1. When did this earthquake occur? _______________________
2. What was the magnitude? _______
3. Use your back browser or the link above to return to “Earthquakes for Kids”
4. Select and search the "Cool Earthquake Facts" area to find the answers to these
questions.
i. What was the largest earthquake in the U.S.?-When, where, and what
magnitude?
ii. What are moonquakes?
iii. What is a seiche?
iv. True or False? The San Andreas Fault is a single-continuous fault line.
v. Which two states have the smallest number of earthquakes?
5. Use your back browser or the link above to return to “Earthquake for Kids”.
6. Select “The Science of Earthquakes”. Read and answer the questions below.
i. What is an aftershock?
ii. Complete this sentence: The ________ boundaries are made up of
many________, and most of the earthquakes around the world occur on
these faults.
iii. What device do scientists use to measure the size of earthquakes?
iv. What method do scientists use to determine exactly where the earthquake
was?
Modified from T.Trimpe www.sciencespot.net
II.
Virtual Earthquake - Go to:
http://www.sciencecourseware.org/VirtualEarthquake/VQuakeExecute.html
1. What’s an earthquake? (read the selection and fill in the missing words)
Earthquakes occur because of a sudden release of stored___________. This
energy has built up over long periods of time as a result of tectonic forces within the
earth. Most earthquakes take place along ________in the upper 25 miles of the
earth's surface when one side rapidly moves relative to the other side of the fault.
This sudden motion causes shock waves (__________waves) to radiate from their
point of origin called the ___________and travel through the earth. It is these
seismic waves that can produce ground motion which people call an ______________.
2. What are earthquake (seismic) waves? (fill in the missing words below)
A seismic wave is simply a means of transferring ___________from one spot to
another within the earth. Although seismologists recognize different types of waves,
we are interested in only two types: P (____________) waves, which are similar to
sound waves, and S (___________________) waves, which are a kind of shear wave.
Within the earth, P waves can travel through solids and_______, whereas S waves can
only travel through__________.
The speed of an earthquake wave is not constant but varies with many factors.
Speed changes mostly with ___________and ________type. P waves travel between
6 and 13 km/sec. S waves are ___________and travel between 3.5 and 7.5 km/sec.
3. What’s a seismogram? (define below)
4. How is an Earthquake’s Epicenter located? (fill in the missing words below)
In order to locate the epicenter of an earthquake you will need to examine its
___________________as recorded by _______different seismic stations. On each
of these seismograms you will have to measure the S - P time interval (in seconds). (In
the figure above, the S - P interval is about 45 seconds. The vertical lines are placed
at 2 second intervals.) The S - P time interval will then be used to determine the
____________the waves have traveled from the _________to that station.
The actual location of the earthquake's epicenter will be on the
_______________of a circle drawn around the recording station. The radius of this
circle is the epicentral distance. One S - P measurement will produce one epicentral
distance: the direction from which the waves came is unknown. Three stations are
needed in order to "______________" the location.
Modified from T.Trimpe www.sciencespot.net
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9.
Scroll down the page and select one of the regions.
Which did you choose? _______________________
Select “Submit Choice”
Note how to read the S-P interval data from the seismogram.
How long is the S-P interval in the seismogram? ______
10. Select “View seismograms”.
11. Record your measurement for each seismogram in each box provided on the screen
& below:
S-P interval #1
Seconds
S-P interval #2
Seconds
S-P interval #3
Seconds
12. Select “Convert S-P Interval”
13. Scroll down and use the S-P graph on the lower left to determine the epicentral
distance and record each value in the box provided & below
Station
S-P Interval
Epicenter
Distance
#1:
Seconds
Km
#2
Seconds
Km
#3
Seconds
Km
14. Select “Find Epicenter”
15. What city is your epicenter in? ______________________
16. How did you do?
17. Select “View True Epicenter” (only available if you did not do well)
18. Scroll down and select “Compute Richter Magnitude”
A well-known scale used to compare the strengths of earthquakes involves using
the records (the seismograms) of an earthquake's shock waves. The scale, known as
the _____________ Magnitude Scale, was introduced into the science of seismology
in 1935 by Dr. C. F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The
_______________of an earthquake is an estimate of the total amount of energy
released during fault rupture. The Richter magnitude of an earthquake is a number:
about 3 for earthquakes that are strong enough for people to feel and about 8 for the
Earth's strongest earthquakes. Although the Richter scale has no upper or lower
limits, earthquakes greater than ___ in Richter magnitude are unlikely. The most
sensitive seismographs can record nearby earthquakes with magnitude of about -2
which is the equivalent of stamping your _____ on the floor.
19. What is the amplitude in the seismogram? ______
Modified from T.Trimpe www.sciencespot.net