Plate Tectonics - The Cause of Earthquakes is a very good introduction to earthquakes and plate tectonics. Read through this section for a general review. Incorporate your answers to the following questions into the article you are producing. Read the following section on Seismic Waves. Finish you reading by quickly going through the section on Richter Magnitude. Don't get bogged down in the mathematics. Focus on differences between Richter's scale and the older Mercalli scale.
Questions
Interval of Time | Number of Earthquakes | Highest Magnitude |
---|
1905 - 1914 |
1915 - 1924 |
Put your sense of the data you have recorded into words. What is the smallest number of earthquakes per decade? The largest number per decade? On average (which may not be a satisfactory measure) there are about X +/- Y earthquakes per decade in the area of interest. Give your values for X and Y.
Use this as background information for the investigative report your are preparing.