I need to finish this project before Tuesday. Send me pictures of the answer if need. There’re 6 parts but I can only upload 5 pictures, there’re 5 more pictures
Earthquake Project – Spring 2021
TOLIBRARY
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: This project
works you through the scientific method.
You will:
• make initial observations,
• develop a hypothesis,
• collect data,
plot the data in meaningful ways,
• describe the data,
analyze the data, and
• make interpretations about the processes
that are occurring at a specific plate
boundary.
.
LacphotoBRARY
PROCEDURE:
Focusing on the western boundary of the
South America plate (see image at right), you
are going to collect data on earthquakes that
have occurred that this specific plate boundary during the past semester, and then ultimately
make an interpretation of the processes occurring along this plate boundary along with a
recommendation for future work.
ENC
Read through the entire assignment prior to starting. The project is divided up into six parts, each
part is weighted differently. See grading rubric at the end.
There are various paths or avenues you can work through this assignment. There is no one
“correct way” to do this, but we need to make sure to operate within the guidelines of quality
science. With that in mind:
1. Be true to your data. What this means is that your interpretations must be based on the
data you have collected, and not the data you think you should have.
2. When you make choices in how you collect the data, you need to explain/justify the
reasons that your process makes scientific sense.
This project is worth 200 points toward your final grade. This is an independent project.
MATERIALS NEEDED
Pencil
Colored pencils or markers
Books and notes
Internet access
Calculator (optional)
Ruler (optional)
O
NOTE: You will use the Internet only during Part 2, the Data Collection stage of this
assignment. Using the Internet for any other part of this assignment will result in a zero.
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PART 1: INITIAL OBSERVATIONS AND HYPOTHESIS (20 pts)
Start by making some initial observations about the western boundary of the South America
plate, and from those, develop a hypothesis regarding what is happening along this plate
boundary.
Look at the image of South America on the first page and open Google Earth, and make
observations features you see in regard to the topography for the western boundary of South
America. In your observations, explain the topography in relation to the red plate boundary.
Write those below.
Observations (12 pts):
Fault scarp
Epicenter
Fault
Mapping Earthquakes
Movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates creates
faults and causes earthquakes as the lithosphere
pushes together, pulls apart, or slides past one
another. All plate boundaries have earthquakes
associated with their movement. As the
movement occurs, the rocks will often break and
grind together, releasing vibrations of energy
into the ground. The earthquakes on plate
boundaries can occur near the ground surface or
deep below the ground. The technology we use
to detect earthquakes can tell us exactly where
the plate boundary occurs below the surface. The
image on the right shows two blocks of earth
that are sliding against each other. The location at which the rocks actually break during a single
event is called the focus of the earthquake. The point on the earth’s surface that is directly above
the focus is called the epicenter.
Focus
Car Www Mapa
Based on your initial topography observations and the information above. Write a hypothesis for
what type of plate boundary you expect for the western boundary of the South America plate. In
your hypothesis, state the pattern you expect to see of the earthquakes for this type of plate
boundary. Remember, a hypothesis must be something that can be tested to determine if it is true
or not.
Hypothesis (8 pts):
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PART 2: DATA COLLECTION (30 pts)
Now you are ready to collect data about earthquakes in South America. Before you start
,
familiarize yourself with the data table on the next page. Look at the headers at the top of each
column. You will need to collect information on the location (latitude, longitude), depth, and
magnitude for each earthquake that has occurred. You will also record the dates of these events.
You will only be examining a portion of the plate boundary; the extent of your research area will
have these bounds: western boundary: 88° W, eastern boundary: 55° W, northern boundary:
19°S, and southern boundary: 39° S.
IMPORTANT: It is up to you how much data you want to collect. You do not have to fill in the
entire table, but you want to make sure that you have a true representation of the data. What does
that mean? Imagine if someone was trying to figure out what percent of University Park students
wear skirts once a week. Would it be accurate to just ask a portion of the female population? No,
because the question is what percent of students, not just female students wear skirts. Should the
person ask an even amount of female and male students? Actually, no, because University Park
is 61% female, so the survey should be made up of 61% female and 39% male. Does the student
have to ask every single student at University Park? No, at some point, you should start to see a
consistent result. You will decide how many earthquakes to record (HINT: at least 20).
Instructions on how to collect the data on earthquakes:
1. Start by going to: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/search/
2. In the Basic Options section:
a. For magnitude, choose “Custom” and set your minimum magnitude to 4.
(NOTE: You may decide to change this later, but this is a good starting point).
b. For date and time, choose “custom” and set the start date as four months from the
current day.
3. Now, you will filter the data to just include the region you are interested in. In the
Advanced Options section, you will set your geographic region based on the information
at the start of this section. NOTE: When longitude is west of the prime meridian, you
need to write it as a negative number, and the more negative number is more west. For
example, you will type -88 for the west value and -55 for the east value. Similarly, when
southern latitudes are also written as negative numbers.
4. Click “Search”.
Question: How many earthquakes does your search bring up? (Look in the upper left under
“Search Results”) (2 pts)
Now you need to come up with a data sampling strategy because you do not want to have to
record and map all of these data. A pattern will emerge before you get to that point. Looking at
the earthquake, decide if you want to sample the data based on an even distribution spatially (like
trying to pick earthquakes that are equally spaced from one another) or if you want to sample
based on frequency (like selecting more earthquakes in an area that has a lot of earthquakes
relative to an area that may just have one). Justify your decision below. Remember, to keep
your hypothesis in mind (8 pts):
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5
Record at least 20 events data in this table. It is up to you how many you collect (20 pts).
Depth
(km)
Longitude
(W)
Magnitude
(M)
Date
Latitude (“S)
Event #
1
2.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
6
PART 3: PRESENTING THE DATA ON A MAP (30 pts)
With the various components of each earthquake collected, plot these data on the map of South
America on the next page. CAUTION: You first need to decide, what would be more meaningful
to plot based on testing your hypothesis: the earthquake magnitude or the earthquake depth?
Explain your decision (and you cannot choose both) (12 pts):
Now, based on your decision, choose three colors.
If you are plotting the earthquakes based on magnitude, then divide your earthquake magnitudes
into three categories and choose a color for each category.
These categories should be:
1) Earthquakes with a magnitude of 4-5,
2) Earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 5 and up to 6, and
3) greater than magnitude 6.
If you have decided to plot your earthquakes based on depth, then choose a color for each of
these three categories:
1) Earthquakes with a depth < 100 km,
2) Earthquakes with depths between 100 km and 250 km, and
3) Earthquakes with depths > 250 km.
On the map provided, plot the epicenter of each earthquake (from the table) as a dot using your
chosen color. Include the magnitude or depth next to each point. (18 pts)
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