One year of earthquakes around the world

All of the earthquakes recorded around the world in 2016.

When covering plate tectonics, using this layer is a good place to start – even before any ideas of plate tectonics are covered.  I will let my students look around the Earth for a while to take note of any patterns that they can discern.  Some of things I try to get my students to recognize include:

  • The overall distribution of earthquakes across the world are not random or even.  Earthquakes are usually clustered into narrow bands [usually denoting plate boundaries].  Some of these boundaries are along the coasts of continents and sometimes they are in the middle of the ocean.
  • Earthquakes are not all the same depth – shallow earthquakes are far more common.  [usually associated with rifting]
  • Shallow earthquakes are often associated with elongate bodies of water.  [rift zones such as East Africa rift, the Red Sea]
  • When earthquakes vary in depth, there is a pattern that emerges – the shallow earthquakes become deeper in one direction.  [caused by the subduction of one plate beneath the other]
  • The earthquakes in the middle ocean correlate with patterns in ocean topography (shown in Google Earth).  [spreading center / mid oceanic rift]
  • Shallow earthquakes are often associated with elongate bodies of water.  [rift zones such as East Africa rift, the Red Sea]
  • Complex patterns of earthquakes where India meets the rest of Asia.  [continental collision, creating Himalayan mountains]

KML file for Google Earth: EQs_2016_4+

Example JPG showing earthquakes in Central America:  world earthquakes 1

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