Earthquakes
Main Topics | Standards | Science Probe | Lessons | Resources
- Main Topics & Concepts
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Faults, types of faults, and their relation to plate tectonics.
The relationship between faults and earthquakes. - Standards
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SFUSD Performance Standard 17.3 "Using graham crackers and frosting to explore the possible activities at
tectonic plate boundaries, (e.g., different kinds of mountain building at colliding
plates)."
SFUSD Performance Standard 17.4 "...They should recognize that major earth processes such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other natural disasters are associated with plate boundaries. Students should understand that convective processes affecting the crust produces convergent and divergent plate boundaries, and they should to locate these major plate boundaries." - Science Probe Text
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Science Probe I Chapter 11 The last section
of the chapter focuses primarily on earthquakes and faults.
Science Probe II Chapter 13 is devoted to earthquakes and contains instructions for several possible activities.Activity Access Description Science Probe II Activity 13A
Thinking About Earthquakes
Students write down what they know or believe about earthquakes. Then they share info with their classmates. Science Probe II Activity 13B
Elastic Rebound
Students use gelatin as a model of elastic rock to investigate how rock deep in the earth may behave between and during earthquakes. Teacher's Note: If you wrap gelatin in plastic wrap, students can eat it afterwards. This might alter elastic rebound effect slightly however. - Activities & Lessons
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Activity Access Description San Francisco Bay Area Earthquakes Larry Braile
Teachers guide for use with the "San Francisco Bay Area Earthquakes" map published by the USGS. Learn about earthquake activity, the locations of faults, and earthquake hazards in the San Francisco Bay Area. This exercise may also be appropriate when teaching about seismic safety. Also available as a PDF file. A Model of 3 Faults USGS
Teachers guide for constructing models of normal, thrust, and strike-slip faults. Students learn to distinguish the different types of motion associated with the faults. Good in conjunction with the IRIS fault motion animations - see below. StickSlip Exercise
Students operate a model to observe the type of motion that occurs at a fault during an earthquake and explore the effects of several variables. Using a box, sandpaper and other simple materials. students apply the scientific method and basic math skills to measure movement, calculate averages, and plot their results. Table-top earthquakes USGS
A teacher's guide for the construction of a "rock-slide" for illustrating faulting and elastic rebound. Includes an extesion to attach a geophone for a seismic display. Very useful! Investigating Earthquakes Through Regional Seismicity Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC)
An online module on earthquakes, using southern California earthquakes to tell the story. Covers major concepts such as "What is an earthquake?", "The distribution of earthquakes", and "Measuring earthquakes". Very comprehensive, but may be frustrating over limited bandwidth connections. Fairly sophisticated concepts. - Resources
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Resources Access Description Elastic Rebound Animation UCSB
Simple Java animation illustrating the concept of elastic rebound. In order to simulate reality, the animation is slow. Fault Motion Animations IRIS E&O
Simple Java animation illustrating the different types of fault motion - normal, reverse, and strike-slip. Animations of Southern California Earthquakes SCEC
Simple Java animation showing the time-space distribution of earthquakes in southern California. There are monthly and annual examples. The San Andreas Fault USGS
A USGS publication available online. Answers many questions about the San Andreas Fault in a clear manner and can be used as a starting point or a wrap-up for a general study of faults and earthquakes. Earthquake! Discovery
Web-based travel log along the San Andreas fault. Touches on the geology and sociology of living on the fault line. Includes a series of articles (with pictures and interviews with scientists and engineers).