Go to the USGS Earthquakes Hazards Program's Latest Earthquakes map, athttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map. Zoom out to the world view and use the settings icon to compare the locations of earthquakes having magnitudes greater than 4.5 with those greater than 2.5 for the past 30 days (you can find options by clicking the gear icon). refer to the link below for plate boundaries and types.
http://maxwatsongeography.wordpress.com/section-a/hazardous-environments/fault-linesplate-boundaries/
1. Along which type of boundary do the most strong earthquakes occur?
2. Why might the boundary along the coast of California produce weak earthquakes?
3. Notice that divergent boundaries appear to have the fewest earthquakes. One explanationis that these boundaries produce fewer earthquakes. What might be another explanation?
Zoom in on the convergent boundary on the north side of the Pacific Plate.
4. Where are the earthquakes located relativeto the plate boundary?
5. What does the location of earthquakes indicate about the movementof plates at this boundary?
Now go to the Jet Propulsion Lab's GPS Time Series map at:
http://sideshow.jpl.nasa.gov/post/series.html
Read the introduction and then click on a dot near the convergent plate boundary along the Pacificplate that you've analyzedabove. Click on the graph to open a larger view. Choose a location with at least 10 continuousyears of data.
6. What is displayed on this map? Where do the data for this map come from?
7. Is the station you chose moving north (towardshigher latitudes) or south? On average, how far does this station move (in centimeters) every 10 years?
8. Is this station moving east (toward more positivelongitude) or west?On average, how far does this station move (in centimeters) every 10 years?