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Do Now – In Notebooks 1.In what order do earthquake waves appear on a seismogram? 2.How many points are needed to determine the epicenter of an earthquake? Why?
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Measuring Earthquakes How can we use seismic data to determine the magnitude of an Earthquake? How do we know where an earthquake occurred?
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Steps to Locating an Earthquake’s Epicenter 1.P waves move faster than S waves so they arrive at seismometers first. Determine the time between the P and S wave arrivals using seismic data. We use 3 seismic stations to locate epicenters. P Wave S Wave
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Fresno, CA
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2.Using the time between P and S waves, determine the distance the waves traveled on the Earth’s surface using the S-P line graph.
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3.Determine the scale on the map being used. (100 km = X mm) Using a ruler, measure how many mm’s there are in 100 km on the map
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4.Calculate the distances for all three seismic stations. (Scale down from km to mm) Formula: Measured (mm) = X mm 100 km distance (from pg. 2) *Make sure to cross multiply and divide
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5.Using a compass draw the areas around the seismic station showing where the EQ could have originated. – You are using the numbers you just calculated in step 4! – Open the compass to the mm you calculated using a ruler – Put the pointy end of the compass on the city for that station and carefully draw a circle – The cities are listed on page 1 of the packet, under the seismograms
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6.Using triangulation (using 3 angles) locate the epicenter. The epicenter will be where all 3 circles intersect.
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Epicenter
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How can we calculate the magnitude on our Epicenter Packets? 1.Determine the amplitude for each seismogram Amplitude – Highest point of a wave
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Fresno, CA
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2.Plot the amplitude and the distance in km for each station. 3.Draw a line (using a ruler) connecting those two points. 4.Repeat for stations 2 and 3
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5.The area where all three lines cross over the middle line, indicates the magnitude of the Earthquake and the number on the Richter Scale
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