We’ve recently been learning all about the layers of Earth. We’ve talked a bit about the theory of plate tectonics and how most earthquakes usually happen along fault boundaries, the place where two tectonic plates meet. Just as we were wrapping up our unit, something strange happened, well, something strange for where we live. Some of us felt an earthquake!
You may have recently read that there was an earthquake that happened in Maine. Well, the earthquake could be felt as far away as Connecticut. Some of us even felt it! Even though it wasn’t very strong, some of us felt the ground shaking beneath our feet. It was definitely an odd feeling!
So how is it possible that even though we don’t live along plate boundaries, we still had an earthquake? Well, sometimes they have something called an intraplate earthquake. It’s an earthquake that happens away from a plate boundary/fault. Scientists aren’t exactly sure about the reasons for these earthquakes. They think that they are areas of weakness from where prehistoric faults existed. Because of that, not only is it impossible to tell when an intraplate earthquake will happen but also where it will occur. Click here to learn more about the earthquake that happened in Maine or here to learn more about why earthquakes can occur in New England.
Contrary to popular belief though, earthquakes happen in New England much more often than people think. Take a look at the image below and see all the earthquakes that have happened here between 1924 and 1974 and then between 1975 and 2006.
You can also check out a video of a meeting that was taking place near the epicenter (where the earthquake originated from) at the time of the earthquake.
While learning about plate tectonics and how most earthquakes occur along plate boundaries, students explored the USGS real-time earthquake map. They had to find 20 earthquakes that were at least a 3.0 magnitude or larger. Then, based upon each one, they had to find the coordinates for it and what the magnitude was. They kept track of this on a piece of paper. After, using Google Maps, they created a map that displayed the location of each of those earthquakes. After, we talked about why these earthquakes most likely occurred where they did.
Check out a few of our maps that we created below. You can click on each of the pins to learn a little bit more about each earthquake.
Map by Nicki, Ashley, and Kaylee
Map by Aiden, Jenna, and Josh G.
Map by Ally P, Trey, Joe D.
You can view the rest by clicking here.
————————————————————————————————————
California has lots of earthquakes and Maine just a few, but we all have something. I use http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/severe.htm to teach about severe weather, etc. probably good for grades 3+.
Hi Mr.Avery
I am from Coffs Harbour, which is in Australia.
I am one of the 16 students that go to Crossmaglen Public School and am in year 6. I love the BFG video and the earthquake maps. Well done!
How many students are in your school?
Here is the link to my schools blog.
http://crossmaglen.edublogs.org/
I hope that you can visit our blog.
Sincerly Jessica
Hi Mr. Avery,
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, and experienced many earthquakes as I was growing up. We would do fire drills and earthquake drills on a regular basis at school so we’d be prepared for an emergency situation.
The worst earthquake I experienced was the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. I was a senior in high school and remember details from that earthquake to this day. Most people remember this earthquake as the one that occurred during the World Series and the one that caused the Bay Bridge to collapse.
Now I live in Arizona, and I have not felt an earthquake since I’ve lived here. We do get flash flooding since our ground is mostly clay, an occasional tornado, and extreme heat.
Kind regards,
Mrs. Watanabe
We have been looking at your great blog.
We live in Christchurch, New Zealand and in the last 2 years we have experienced over 12,000 earthquakes. The biggest one was 7.3! Our city has been devastated and our lives changed. We are still rebuilding and pulling down damaged buildings. If you are interested we could send you some pictures/videos or answer some questions.
Just a thought
Room 19
http://www.9plus10.blogspot.com
Dear Mr. Avery,
I have never felt an earthquake before but I was in the car so i could not feel it. My uncle’s dog could feel it and he went crazy and he was shaking like crazy.
Sincerely,
Aiden C
Dear Mr. Avery,
I think that we all did a great job on the earthquake maps.
Sincerely,
Olivia Y.
😎 😛 😉
Dear Mr. Avery,
Thank you for putting Kaylee, Nicki, and my map on the blog. Last night I did not feel a thing in my sleep. I woke up and thankfully the power was on. Did your power come on? The schools didn’t so there is no school today.
Sincerely,
Ashley
Hi Mr Avery’s Blog,
I’m from Australia in 3/4C. Wer’e blog buddies with your friends 4/KM & 4/KJ. Our blog adress is http://upps.global2.vic.edu.au. Please leave a comment on our blog.
Bye for now.
From,
Alicia
Dear Mr Avery,
It must have been cool to be in an earthquake, even if it’s a small jiggle.
Well, I’ve only been in about three or four earthquakes. None of them were very bad at all. The biggest one was like you were on a bouncy train, without it going off the tracks! 🙂
Did you know that the biggest earthquake ever recorded was in 1960 in Valdivia and Puerto Montt, Chile. It killed 1655 people. WOW!
In ancient times, the earthquakes were known to be a lot bigger, but we couldn’t record them because the Richter scale was not developed until the 1930s.
Hope you enjoyed the facts! 🙂
Your blogging buddy,
Bronte 😛 😯
Hello Mr. Avery and class,
I found your post very interesting. Geology is one of my hobbies although I’m not an expert in any way. I wanted to share some links if you’re interested but found there were too many to add in this comment so I created an earthquake post for you…
http://rossmannellcomments.edublogs.org/2012/10/27/earthquake-links-for-mr-avery-and-class/
Keep learning everyone. Posts like yours always teach me new things. 🙂
@RossMannell
Teacher (retired), N.S.W., Australia