Earthquake Questionnaire help

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unezbal01

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2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami

Answer the following questions regarding the 2011 Japanese earthquake using the Internet and the “Tohoku 2011” Powerpoint file (uploaded). Full sentence answers not necessary.

PART ONE: EARTHQUAKE

First, open the “Tohoku 2011” Powerpoint file, go over the slides to get an overview and read summary notes at bottom of slides. Also, take special note of slide 4.

1. The shaking from this event was one of the longest ever recorded on Earth. How long did the shaking last? (slide 3)

2. Looking at web traffic statistics (slide 5), what was the peak number of visits/day for the Tohoku earthquake?

3. In slide 6, what does the dashed green line represent?

4. What was the peak slip (maximum movement) along the fault? (slide 7)

5. In the last 100 years, there have been two distinct clusters of earthquake activity. Over what years do we see these two peaks? (slide 8)

For the remaining questions, the United States Geological Survey has an excellent summary here:

ftp://hazards.cr.usgs.gov/maps/sigeqs/20110407/20110407.jpg

Also, Wikipedia also has a good treatment of this topic. FYI, Wikipedia tends to be a good reference on science and history; just don’t use it for anything of a contentious nature!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_earthquake_2011

6. On what type of plate boundary was the earthquake generated?

7a. What tectonic plate is subducting under Japan?

7b. How fast does this plate subduct?

8a. The earthquake was a megathrust earthquake… what is a megathrust?

8b. Name three other megathrust earthquakes of magnitude 9.0 or greater.

9. What is a volcanic arc, and what is the origin of the volcanoes in Japan?

10a. What is an epicenter?

10b. What was the latitude and longitude of the Tohoku earthquake epicenter?

11a. What is a hypocenter?

11b. How deep was the Tohoku earthquake hypocenter?

12. What was the magnitude of the earthquake that generated the tsunami?

13. What does the phrase “stick-slip” (not strike-slip) mean in regards to faulting?

14. Were there foreshocks? If yes, how big, and when?

15. How many aftershocks greater than 6.0 M have been recorded?

16a. What was the vertical drop along the coastline?

16b. What effect did this have on the tsunami?

17. How far east did the earthquake move Honshu, the largest island of Japan?

18a) Did the earthquake change the shape (roundness) of the Earth?

18b) Did it shift the tilt of the Earth (ie, Earth’s axis?) If yes, by how much?

18c) Did it change the length of a day on Earth? If yes, by how much?

19. How many people died from the earthquake?

PART TWO: TSUNAMI

Two Youtube videos that summarize the devastation:

aerial view from helicopter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3AdFjklR50

view from building top:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-zfCBCq-8I&feature=relmfu

20. How many people died from the tsunami? (Note: this answer is vastly different than #19 above.)

21. How big were the largest tsunami waves by the time they hit the beach?

22. How big were the tsunami waves in Chile, 11,000 miles away?

FYI, nice graphic here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2011Sendai-NOAA-Energylhvpd9-05.jpg

23. What hints indicate a tsunami might hit a coastal area?

24. How is a tsunami generated by an earthquake?

25. What could have prevented the loss of life in this tragic event?

26. Could we have a tsunami here in California? Why or why not?

Unformatted Attachment Preview

Japan Regional Seismicity, 1900-2007 USGS Poster/Open File Report 2010-1083-D Shaking & Aftershocks (as of March 13th) Tohoku, Japan Earthquake: Shaking Duration in Tokyo, Ground Velocity 6 minutes Tohoku, Japan Earthquake: Aftershock (and Foreshock) Sequence, M:Time History Web Traffic Statistics Average – 400,000 visits/day & 1.5 million page views/ Peak – 900,000 visits/day & 2.5 million page views/day Christchurc h (M6.1) NZ Tohoku (M9.0) JP Tohoku, Japan Earthquake: Source Region Slab Geometry Tohoku, Japan Earthquake: Finite Fault Model USGS V2 - 2011/03/18 Updated modeling shows peak slips of 30+ m, depending on the parameterization of rupture velocity. This updated model shows peak slip of ~32 m, using a range of rupture velocity from 1.25 - 3 km/s. Models with constant rupture velocity show slips of 40-50 m, all at shallow depths. This may imply that the up-dip nature of rupture is well resolved, but peak slips are not. ‘Low’ slip regions near the fault edges, and fault base, are also A History Of Large Earthquakes Data: USGS PAGERCAT 1900-2008, USGS-NEIC & gCMT 2008-present Figure courtesy of Charles Ammon, after Ammon et al., SRL, 2010
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Explanation & Answer

I am uploading the answer to your question and marking it as complete.

PART ONE: EARTHQUAKE
First, open the “Tohoku 2011” Powerpoint file, go over the slides to get an overview and read
summary notes at bottom of slides. Also, take special note of slide 4.
1. The shaking from this event was one of the longest ever recorded on Earth. How long did
the shaking last? (slide 3)

6 minutes

2. Looking at web traffic statistics (slide 5), what was the peak number of visits/day for the
Tohoku earthquake?

Peak – 900,000 visits/day & 2.5 million page views/day

3. In slide 6, what does the dashed green line represent? Best fitting slab surface
4. What was the peak slip (maximum movement) along the fault? (slide 7) -32 m
5. In the last 100 years, there have been two distinct clusters of earthquake activity. Over what
years do we see these two peaks? (slide 8) 1950-1965 2005-2011
6. On what type of plate boundary was the earthquake generated? Subduction
7a. What tectonic plate is subducting under Japan? the Pacific Plate is subducting unde...


Anonymous
Really great stuff, couldn't ask for more.

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