Transcript Earthquake – a global pattern

Earthquake – a global pattern
Seismic events and crustal structures.
An introduction to the location and
characteristics of earthquakes.
Tsunami -
A contemporary view of events in Japan
Earthquake – a contemporary view of events in New
Zealand
The Pacific basin is evident and the edge or “rim” defined by the
location of significant seismic events “earthquakes”. A pattern is
evident and coincides with the sub-crustal feature called a plate
boundary. For example New Zealand parallels the Pacific and
Indo-Australian plates.
Earthquakes have several characteristics and location, time, and
magnitude are included. This map adds a further element “depth”
or proximity to or from the surface. The following link provides
detailed information .
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/qed/
This map shows the Japanese earthquake and the range of other
seismic events and their proximity to the tectonic plates. See next slide!
The global pattern of tectonic plates
Japan is located at the junction of four tectonic plate boundaries.
Steam – punk
This is way cooler!
While the pattern can provide a degree of certainty about where earthquakes
occur and analysis of the information some understanding of this type of natural
event prediction is less exact and probability is an art-form rather than a
science. Prevention is out of the question so preparedness and prior planning
are the best human responses to these naturally occurring events. This map
and the animation show the randomness of earthquake events and the difficulty
of knowing where and when they will occur.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsanim/world/
The map shows the earths tectonic plates which have distinct
boundaries and it is along these “joins” that earthquakes happen
(usually). Ref google –tectonic plates
New Zealand’s place in the world?
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Christchurch
-1996-Quake-Doco---why-buildingscollapse/tabid/439/articleID/19091/Def
ault.aspx
There is no doubt that we are geographically
vulnerable to earthquake events - in the firing line - and
prior events such as Napier 1931 demonstrate our
vulnerability to large magnitude events. There are other
factors to consider and these will become apparent as
you continue your studies.
Napier earthquake – 1931 Can you describe the images and are there
any similarities with the more recent earthquakes in Christchurch?
September 24th – 2010 and February 12th 2011
http://www.google.co.nz/