ATM 200 - Natural Disasters

Ch 4 – Plate Tectonics and

Earthquakes

Monday, 12 October 2015

Daily Announcements:

1) EQ Homework Assignment to be completed by Friday, Oct. 16.

2) Beginning today, you can visit your TA or me during our posted Office Hours

to go over your Exam #1 up until the date of Exam #2. If you did not mark

your answers directly on your exam paper, then you must come see me.

Song #1: “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” by Tony Bennett

Song #2: “California Earthquake” by Norman Greenbaum

Text Source Today: Chapter 4

· Subduction Zone EQs:

○ Chile, 1960

○ Alaska, 1964 Notes Template

○ Haiti, 2010 PDF DOC

○ Mexico City, 1985

○ Pacific NW 1700, 20??

· Spreading Center EQs

· Transform Fault EQs in California:

○ San Francisco, 1906

○ Loma Prieta, 1989 – Liquefaction

Study Guide Material (Stacey’s Guide) :

1) Most of the really large EQs in world history are due to what? Explain.

2) What are the “Top 4” largest M_W EQs from 1904-2011?

3) Explain the low death toll in the 1964 Alaska EQ? What caused most of the deaths?

4) What caused the high death toll in the 2010 Haiti EQ?

5) Why was the building damage so great in the 1985 Mexico City EQ, despite the

epicenter being 220 miles away near the southwestern Mexican coast?

6) What evidence is there that a 9+ M_W EQ is due in the Pacific NW (Cascadia)?

7) Why is the threat for a major EQ so great near San Francisco and Los Angeles?

8) Why were the 1906 San Francisco and 1989 Loma Prieta EQs so devastating?

9) What does the "seismic gap” method show for the San Francisco area?