Download GIS lab #3 Plate Tectonics 20171p

CGC1P
GIS Lab #3
GIS Lab #3: Which areas of Canada are at risk for Geologic Activity?
Large scale geologic processes including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions pose a safety risk to people
around the globe, but what are the risks here in Canada? We will use GIS to solve this question.
Background information:
Plate tectonics: The theory that the earth’s surface (crust) is divided into slabs that interact with one another
in constant motion. These slabs are floating on a layer of molten rock called magma which allows them to
move slowly in one direction by a few cm each year.
These plates can interact in 1 of 3 ways.
Convergent boundary: Divergent boundary:
(subduction zone)
Transform boundary:
Open the map “Plate Tectonics Lesson” from the class website, Unit 2 Day 2. Login and Save a copy.
Spatial Significance: (What is Where?)
1. Turn on the layer “Earths Tectonic Plates”. How many of these plates cover the earth’s surface? Open
the attribute table under the layer name to find out.
2. What tectonic plate does Canada and the USA rest on?
3. Open Bookmark 1. Which three plates interact on the West Coast of North America? Using the legend,
what type of plate boundaries occur along the west coast of Canada?
4. Open Bookmark 2. Which two plates are interacting in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean? Which
type of plate boundary do you think is occurring here? Use the legend to help.
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GIS Lab #3
What is the spatial significance of Earth’s Tectonic plates?
Step 1: What is the extent to which tectonic plates exist? Use geographic language
Step 2: What type of natural features do tectonic boundaries create?
Bring together it together: How does the action of plate tectonics lead to unique landscapes? Explain using an
example.
Patterns and Trends: (Why There?)
In this section we are going to look for global patterns in the location of Earthquakes and Volcanoes for the
whole planet.
5. Turn on the layer “Volcanoes Active Only” (turn off “major physical features”). Open bookmark 3 to
see the entire world. Complete a pattern study for what you notice in the location of active volcanoes
worldwide.
Step 1: Circle
Pattern
or
Trend
?
Step 2: What geographic word describes this pattern/trend?
Step 3: Hypothesize. Why does this pattern exist?
6. To view earthquakes we are going to use secondary data from the USGS website that records every
earthquake that happens on earth.
To get this data follow the link on the class website Unit 2 Day 3 “USGS Earthquakes”. This will take you to the
USGS website where they store .csv files of the most recent earthquakes.
a) Scroll to the bottom until you see the title “Past 30 Days” and follow the link for “M4.5+ Earthquakes”.
A Google Sheets .csv spreadsheet will open.
b) Click File, Save as Google Sheet
c) When your saved copy opens, Click File, download as Comma Separated Value .csv
d) The file should be saved in your Google Drive. Look for the .csv file type.
e) From ArcGIS Online add this file by choosing the ADD+ icon and “add layer from file”
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GIS Lab #3
To Visualize the Data:
The change style option will show up automatically
a) Choose “Mag” as the attribute to show.
b) Choose “Counts and Amounts” as the drawing style
c) Click the options button inside counts and amounts
d) Click classify data and choose manual breaks
with 3 classes
e) Scroll one black slider bar to 5 and the other
to 6. This colour codes earthquakes so that we can tell which are
stronger earthquakes and thus more hazardous.
f) Choose a colour scheme that makes each class of earthquakes easy to see.
by clicking on the symbols button
. Feel free to change the symbol.
g) Click OK and DONE to return to the map screen.
h) Change the name of this layer to “Recent Earthquakes”
7. Time to find some patterns in the Earthquake data. Make sure that “Earth’s Tectonic Plates” layer is
still on and now analyze the map for the following patterns. Use geographic terms learned in class.
The Location of all Earthquakes in general:
Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3:
Interrelationships:
8. There are many layers on this map but only a few are interrelated to each other. Find 2
interrelationships that occur between the layers Recent Earthquakes , Volcanoes Active and Earth’s
Tectonic Plates. In the description explain the type and direction of the relationship.
Layer Name
Layer name
Description
Geographic Perspectives: (Why Care?)
9. You have been hired by Environment Canada, the agency in charge of emergency preparedness for
natural disasters. You have been given a budget of 10 million dollars for earthquake injury
prevention and 1 million for volcanic eruption preparedness to be awarded to provinces that you
think are at the highest risk for earthquakes. Explain which provinces and specifically what regions of
the province you would give money to. Justify your answer using the map you created. Use the
CGC1P
GIS Lab #3
“Outline of Canada”, population density and “Cities” layer so that you know where people live. These
should influence your decision on where money should go.
SUBMIT THIS ANSWER USING THE GOOGLE FORM on the class website Unit 2 Day 3.
This submission is worth 10 marks
COMPLETE A FINAL MAP USING THE MAP TEMPLATE ON THE WEBSITE
Share this map with Mr. Scott showing only Plate Boundaries, Earthquakes and Volcanoes
IT WILL BE EVALUATED FOR a TOTAL OF 10 MARKS
GIS Skills Covered in this Activity:
1. Taking a .csv table from a website and importing it to ArcGIS Online.
a)Find an online table and either copy it to Google Sheets or Save it to Google Drive.
b)When your saved copy is open, Click File, download as Comma Separated Value .csv
c)The file should be saved in your “my documents” folder in your H:Drive.
d)From ArcGIS Online add this file by choosing the ADD+ icon and “add layer from file”
2. To Visualize Data:
The change style option will show up automatically on newly added files. On an existing layer choose
“change style” from the options below the layer name.
a) choose whichever attribute you want to show using the drop box.
b) Choose “Counts and Amounts” “single symbol” or “heat map” as the
drawing style
c) Click the options button inside the chosen drawing style.
d) Make whatever changes you want to the data.
e) Click OK and DONE to return to the map screen.