Earthquakes & Volcanoes ISNS 3359 Fall 2007
Journal I & II Assignment (75 points each, total 150 points-33% of your grade)
Earthquakes & Volcanoes-Current Events Journal
Your task is to take ~30-45 minutes (or less) every week during an 8 week period to maintain a personal (unique, unlike any other) EQ&V electronic “journal,” following the format of the examples below. You should make one entry per week (minimum 4 events per 4 week period ending in November (see syllabus) relevant to earthquakes and volcano current events (that is, events within two weeks of your entry) gleaned from newspapers, magazines, news reports, wwweb reports, etc. {can’t find anything? visit and type earthquake “OR” volcano in the search box, and you will be presented with many dozens of very recent articles}. Your job is to very concisely summarize the important 8 points (describing what, when, where, why) of the article or event, provide source details and any comments you deem significant, sketch/download a map and cross section (be sure to include approximate scales and North arrows) showing the plate tectonic setting (use arrows to show plate motions) of the event, and speculate on the plate tectonic cause of the event, and perhaps research more about the event in your textbook or on the web to more learn about it. Plot each of the 4 events on the global plate tectonic map as stars with the event date. You will hand in your printed journal in October and November (see syllabus) for grading and feedback. You can also select recent Earthquakes (hint-more information is typically available for larger magnitude earthquake events M>6-see USGS NEIC site) or volcanic eruptions from the Smithsonian web site; other links and resources can be found on the WebCT class link and files pages. You should use a computer to maintain the journal for easy edit, but you can hand draw the maps and sections as shown below; if you cannot type the journal, see the instructor before proceeding. You can download the file from WebCT “files” page: “JournalFormat” and edit it for your entries-try and fit one or two per page, so your monthly journal should be 2-4 pages long (at most one entry per page). Do your own work and be sure to provide sources for your information (be sure to list the source url of any map or diagram you download), and do not give entries to or obtain them from your classmates. You should follow the UTD standards of academic honesty (for clarification of these policies, visit and for a summary, download the flier from dishonesty flier1.pdf )
Earthquake Format
- Location: nearby city, country, Latitude N or S Longitude W or E
- Magnitude: number (Mw=moment magnitude)
- Date-Time: Day of week, day, month, year; time (UTC); AM or PM (local time)
- Hypocenter Depth: in km
- Plate Tectonic Setting: Verbal Description of plates involved, type of plate boundary associated with the earthquake (if no nearby plate boundary, describe distance to nearest major plate boundary.
6. Maps & Cross section:
Geographic Map Plate tectonic Map Cross Section
7. Effects: Description of felt area, damage, deaths, injuries, Max Mercalli Intensity Values, etc.
8. Sources of info: full urls of any and all sources used
Volcano Format
1. Location: nearby city, country, Latitude N or S Longitude W or E
2. Type of volcano: magma composition (eg.basalt, andesite, dacite, or rhyolite,); (eg. shield volcano, stratovolcano, caldera, cinder cone, etc.)
3. Date-Time: Day of week, day, month, year; time (UTC); AM or PM (local time)
4. Elevation: (summit) in meters above or below sea level
5. Plate Tectonic Setting: Verbal Description of plates involved, type of plate boundary associated with the volcano (if no nearby plate boundary, describe distance to nearest major plate boundary.
6. Maps & Cross Section
Geographic Map Plate tectonic Map Cross Section
7. Description of eruption & its effects: Details of eruption, Impacted area, damage, deaths, injuries,.
8. Sources of info: full urls of any and all sources used
Global Plate Tectonic Map for plotting the 4 events
This is an example of the smaller NASA global tectonic map you can download from the “files” part of the WebCT class page. Feel free to copy it and use it for the plate boundary info.
Subduction Zone (convergent) Spreading Center/Rift (divergent) Transform (Strike Slip)