I described the tsunami generated by the 2004 Sumatra Andaman Islands earthquake and the 2011 Tohoku, Japan earthquake. We looked at maps, animations, videos, and photo demonstrating the awfulness of large tsunami. No in-class exercise.
Monthly Archives: February 2022
Class Summary – Fri 25 February – No Class Snow/Ice day
PSU cancelled classes for this day.
Class Summary – Wed 23 February – Tsunami
I introduced the topic of tsunami and described how tsunami and large earthquakes are related to subduction. No in-class activity.
Class Summary – Mon 21 Feb – Plate Tectonics
I finished up Plate Tectonics & Plumes, reviewing plate boundary characteristics in topography (using google Earth) and showing plate reconstructions for the globe and for North America. I then talked about plumes and hot spots, which is another mode of heat transport from the interior.
No in-class exercise today, but I distributed a homework assignment.
Class Summary – Fri 18 Feb – Plate Tectonics
I finished up plate tectonics except for showing some historical plate configurations, which I will do next class. Students completed an in-class exercise related to sketching the main earthquake location patterns on global maps. A key pedagogical goal was to remind students of the importance of drafts in the development of anything, not just writing.
Class Summary – Wed 16 Feb – Plate Tectonics
We finished our discussion of Earth’s interior and moved on to plate tectonics. Students completed an in-class exercise related to testing the idea of sea-floor spreading.
Class Summary – Mon 14 Feb – Earth’s Interior
We discussed the nature of Earth’s interior: Crust, mantle, core. For the most part, gravity and early melting of planets enable them to for a spherically stratified structure with the most dense materials in the core. The process is not trivial, and since we have no samples of core material, we have to infer its composition from information on the materials available to “build” the planet, and the chemistry and physics that operate during the process.
Students completed an in-class activity related to the likely main component in Earth’s core.
Class Summary – Fri 11 Feb – The Origin of Everything
I presented a lecture on the origin of the Universe, including the Big Bang and the origin of elements. I had three objectives: To outline scientific hypotheses for the origins of the Universe and of Earth. I introduced
- The basic structure of the Universe
- The immensity of the Universe
- The depth of Time
This is a very broad view of Earth’s origin, but these are some of the most fundamental contributions of science to human thought – I encourage you to explore them more on your own, when you have time.
The slides are on Canvas, and we did not complete an in-class exercise.
Class Summary – Wed 9 Feb – The 2015 Nepal EQ Analysis
Students completed an in-class exercise using information on plate motions, and aftershocks to investigate some characteristics of the Mw 7.9 20015 Gorkha Nepal earthquake.
See the Canvas assignment for details if you missed the class. Note that I just now updated the worksheet on Canvas to match what students did in class.
Class Summary – Mon 07 February – EQ Patterns using Mathematica
The class used a Mathematica “notebook” to explore the Gutenberg-Richter, Omori, Bath, and spatial patterns of several earthquake sequences. The goal was to provide some feel for the type of tools that earthquake scientists use to analyze earthquakes.
The data were transferred from the USGS earthquake catalog into the notebook and then analyzed using the standard commands in Mathematica.
Class Summary – Fri 04 February – No Class Snow/Ice day
PSU cancelled classes for this day.
Class Summary – Wed, 02 February – In-Class Exercises
Students completed two in-class exercises
Seismic Moment, Rupture Area, and Fault Slip
That’s all – no lecture, no slides.