Alaska Earthquake Map

The purpose of this display is to show how seismicity patterns build with time. Data are obtained from the USGS National Earthquake Information Center preliminary determination of epicenters using the command finger quake@gldfs.cr.usgs.gov. A sample outout of this command is

96/01/01 01:34:15  20.15S 174.58W  33.0 5.7Ms B  TONGA ISLANDS              NSN
96/01/01 08:05:11   0.66N 119.92E  33.0 7.7Ms B  MINAHASSA PENINSULA, SULAWENSN
96/01/01 09:14:34   0.63N 120.33E  33.0 5.7Mb C  MINAHASSA PENINSULA, SULAWENSN
96/01/01 09:21:08  54.31N 158.94E  33.0 4.7Mb B  KAMCHATKA                  NSN
96/01/01 09:57:51  54.31N 159.04E  33.0 6.5Ms B  NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKNSN
96/01/01 11:50:47  54.23N 159.27E  33.0 5.0Mb B  NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKNSN
96/01/01 11:50:50  53.13N 168.34W  33.0 4.2Mb B  FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANNSN
96/01/01 13:35:55  54.13N 159.35E  33.0 4.9Mb B  NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKNSN
96/01/01 14:53:03  53.99N 159.20E  33.0 4.6Mb B  NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKNSN
96/01/01 20:31:17  54.08N 159.19E  33.0 5.0Mb B  NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKNSN
96/01/02 02:06:33  54.11N 159.12E  33.0 4.7Mb B  NEAR EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKNSN
96/01/02 06:26:41  38.80N 119.50W   5.0 3.9Ml A  CALIFORNIA-NEVADA BORDER RENSN

This display can be easily be implemented in a classroom. It would require a weekly update of locations, an inexpensive wall map, and colored adhesive dots of several sizes, the combination of which can represent earthquake magnitude and depth. Students would thus be required to update the map weekly.

The benefits are learning map coordinates, geography and, of course, something about earthquakes. At the end of a 9 month school year, the pattern of earthquakes would be obvious.

R. B. Herrmann, January 3, 2000