Christina Weaver Geography 1700 S.

Timmins March 05, 2014 For my signature assignment, I elected to learn to track earthquakes and volcanoes using Google Earth. I had never used Google Earth prior to this assignment, and although I found it somewhat difficult to navigate at first, I found it much easier to use once I was more familiar. To identify the earthquakes for this assignment, I reviewed the suggested articles and websites. Next, I reviewed our textbook to re-familiarize myself with plate tectonics. Specifically, I studied table 2.1 (located on page 32 of our text, Natural Hazards). To find each plate boundary, I looked on the table where the examples of specific boundaries are referenced. Next, I used the Google Earth tool to locate the region(s) referenced. Once the map was in the correct area, I used the Google Earth filters to show specific boundaries, and tried to locate earthquakes near the appropriate area. The most difficult part of this step was determining how the boundary labels on the Google Earth tool corresponded with the boundary types referenced in our textbook. For example, our text references oceancontinent, but the Google Earth tool did not have a label for this type of plate boundary. Instead, they were labeled Subduction Zones, but since our text indicated that subduction zones were a result of ocean-continent convergent plates, I could determine the appropriate boundary type. Other than the boundary-label discrepancies, the tool and images were pretty selfexplanatory. It was easy to determine the location, date, time, depth and magnitude of each event. It seems possible that the USGS and Google Earth created these for novice earthquake trackers, such as myself. Now that I am familiar with the tool, I may use it to monitor activity in my area.

Christina Weaver Geography 1700 S. Timmins March 05, 2014 Since I reside in Utah, I have always been concerned about earthquakes. While I was growing up, we had many earthquake drills in school and at home to prepare us for the big one that all Utah residents expect. I have had an emergency 42 hour kit my whole life, and as an adult I have tried to instill the importance of emergency preparation on my young child. She doesnt quite understand the importance of it yet, but she knows that we have food, water, and emergency supplies set aside for our family, including the dogs. I wouldnt say any of my assumptions have changed regarding natural disasters, but I believe my understanding has. We travel a fair amount as a family, generally to other countries, and I have often wondered what I would do in an emergency situation while on vacation. For example, we visit Cancun, Mexico pretty often, which was directly in the path of a tsunami a few years ago. I visited a few months after the storm, and witnessed the devastation that it caused. Now that I am aware of potential warning signs of tsunamis, I will make sure to keep up-to-date on local earthquakes, and to watch for receding shorelines.