Seismology

The study of earthquakes is an important phenomenon as they have a profound environmental and human impact. Each year there are thousands of earthquakes that can be felt by people and over one million that are strong enough to be recorded by instruments. In this exercise you will learn how an scientists determine the epicentre of an earthquake using data collected by seismographs.

NOTE: The text, images, seismic data and parts of this lesson have been adapted from The Virtual Earthquake web site, created by The Electronic Desktop Project, 1997, California State University.

LESSON PACK CONTENT

The Seismology Lesson Pack is divided into three sections:

Source: The Virtual Earthquake, 1997,
The Electronic Desktop Project, California State University

Part A - Global Patterns This section will provide an understanding of the global patterns in the distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes.

Part B - Seismology in Japan
In this section you will become familiar with the techniques used by seismologists to pinpoint the exact location of an earthquake's epicentre.

Part C - Earthquakes in Canada
This section focuses on earthquakes and the potential impact they have on people.

Before you begin this lesson you will need to download the data that is used throughout the exercise. The dataset for this lesson is available in .ZIP or .EXE format. Using the .EXE file, the data will be extracted to the correct folder when you double-click the downloaded file to execute it. If you are unable to download the .EXE file due to your network or service provider's security measures, download the .ZIP file and be sure to extract the data to the folder indicated in the lesson instructions. If you cannot download either of the files available here, contact your system administrator. If you have any questions, send an e-mail to K-12@esricanada.com.

ArcView 3.x
Setup.exe or Winzip File	PDF or WordDoc