Transcript All about earthquakes

All about earthquakes
created by Sadie Heinrich
and John Walker
Alfred Wegeners theory
• Alfred Wegners
theory of continental
drift assumed was
one called Pangaea.
The three major tectonic plates
• They are the north
American plate, the
Juan de Fuca plate
and the pacific plate
Why does California get a lot of
earthquakes and not Florida?
• California lays on the
junction of the down
pacific plate and the north
America plate (the san
Andreas fault.) As these
plates slip past each
other the movement
triggers earthquakes.
Florida is situated virtually
in the middle of the north
America plate and is the
for seismically
The most destructive earthquake in
history
• The most destructive
earthquake in history is the
Hua County earthquake. This
earthquake occurred on the
morning of January 23 1556. it
was in china when it
happened. It effected more
then 97 counties. These
counties where Shensi,
Henan, Gansu, Hexei,
Shandong, Hube,Huna,
Jiangsu and Anhui. The
magnitude was 8. the amount
of people dead was 830,000
people.
The three type of plate boundaries
• The three types are the
convergent plate
boundary, divergent
boundary, and the
transform boundary.
Convergent boundaries
are plates that move
towards each other.
Divergent plate
boundaries are plates
that move away from
each other. Transform
boundaries are plates
that are going up and
down.
What are tsunamis and what
causes them?
• Tsunamis are very
high and very wide
waves. Caused by a
fast displacement of
water. For example a
huge volcano
eruption. They usually
travel about 500-600
miles per hour.
How much more energy is released
by a 7.2 then a 6.2 earthquake?
• A 7.2 earthquake has
to times more ground
movement, but a 7.2
earthquake has 32
times more energy.
What applications does seismology
have besides measuring the
magnitude
• Scientist can also
map the density of the
rock.
Where did most of the earthquakes
happen last week?
• Most of the
earthquakes
happened in the
Carribean area.
Can scientist predict earthquakes?
• Scientist have tried lots of
different ways of
predicting earthquakes,
but none have been
successful. They have
pretty good idea of where
an earthquake is most
likely to hit, but they still
cant tell when it will
happen.
How do scientist actually know
where an earthquake occurred?
• When a earthquake
happens it sends waves
through the ground at a
certain speed. The waves
will eventually ripple out
and hit meters that detect
it. Scientist take the times
and figure out the
possible range that the
earthquake could have
come from.