Investigating Earthquakes
Project WISE, Fall, 2001
Earth Science Educational Resource Center

Instructor

• Glenn Richard [Glenn.Richard@sunysb.edu]
• Teacher Supervisor: To be announced

Goal

• During this workshop, we will develop a plan for a hypothetical "International Earthquake Relief Organization", headquartered in the Mineral Physics Institute at the Stony Brook University.  The mission of this organization will be to mitigate the harmful effects of seismic events.  Its strategy will be to develop:
• Education programs about the geology of earthquakes
• Programs for improving the design of buildings
• Evacuation plans
• Proposed locations for branch offices
• Plans for coping with the various types of damage that occur
• Plans for bringing in food and supplies
• A strategy for locating the epicenters of events as quickly as possible after they occur
• Priorities, targeting areas most likely to be affected by seismic events
• In order to develop this plan, we will need to learn as much as possible about the geology of earthquakes anf the effects they have on human society.

Schedule

• Thursday, October 25, 2001
• Introduction
• High pressure lab and seismometer tour
• Distribution of earthqaukes
• Magnitude of earthquakes
• Intensity of earthquakes
• Hot cocoa convection and plate tectonics experiment
• Form planning committees
• Hazard committee - where earthqaukes occur and what are their effects
• Infastructure committee - how to consctuct buildings, what infrastucture is needed to cope with emergencies, where to site branch offices
• Education committee - compile a list of existing education programs, design new educational activities
• Response committee - plan for quick response to events, including evacuations, bringing in food, medical supplies and personnel
• Committees perform preliminary planning of the "International Earthquake Relief Organization"
• Wednesday, November 14, 2001 - Special Session
• Thursday, December 13, 2001
• Stick-slip experiment
• Earthquake prediction
• The nature of seismic waves
• Primary waves
• Secondary waves
• Rayleigh waves
• Seismic waves interactive program
• Finding epicenters
• International Earthquake Relief Organization planning session
• Thursday, January 10, 2002
• International Earthquake Relief Organization Planning session
• Develop the final report (Powerpoint presentation)
• Wednesday, January 16, 2002
• Final presentation

Last Modified January 10, 2002