The NASA SCIence Files™
Earthquake Analysis

Purpose: To use data to locate and analyze recent earthquakes

Materials

Procedure

  1. Open the web page listed above. On this page, you will find a near real time earthquake list for the previous three days of data.
  2. Using this list, plot the coordinates for each earthquake on the world map using a different colored pencil for each day.
  3. Create a map key.
  4. Carefully analyze your data and the plots on the map. Are there any trends?
  5. Look at the magnitude for each earthquake and use a different colored pencil to represent each whole number. Draw a circle around the corresponding earthquake in the color designated. For example, if an earthquake is between 3.0 and 3.9, use blue to circle all earthquakes that fall within that range. Add colors and representations to the map key.
  6. Reanalyze your data and plots. Does a trend emerge with this new information?
  7. Think of other ways to use the data given in the list and design ways to represent it and analyze it. For example, does the time of the earthquake mean anything? Is there another way to look at the locations. Do they correlate with plate boundaries?

Conclusion

  1. Was there any correlation between the position of the earthquake and its magnitude?
  2. Where were most of the earthquakes located on each day?
  3. Were there any correlations between the times that the earthquakes occurred and their location or magnitude?