Earthquake Visualizations
Compiled by Mark Francek (more info) at Central Michigan University (more info) , John McDaris, and Monica Bruckner at SERC.
Find animations showing seismograph operation, tsunami, P and S Waves, earthquake focus versus epicenter, and actual footage of an earthquake.
11 March 2011, Japan
Post-Earthquake Images of Japan (more info) This web page from Google offers high-resolution imagery, courtesy of their partners at GeoEye, which can be accessed by download a KML file provided on the site and explored in Google Earth. Imagery can also be viewed with Google Maps, or via a link to a Picasa album of before-and-after shots.
Maps of epicenter location, aftershocks, historical seismicity, and more (more info) Maps of epicenter location, aftershocks, historical seismicity, and more related to the 11 March 2011 earthquake off the coast of Japan.
How Japan Shifted (more info) This map, from ESRI, shows how much the earth's surface in Japan shifted because of tectonic plate movement following the March 2011 earthquake. Viewers can use the time slider tool to also see the aftershocks of the earthquake that had a magnitude of greater than 5.0.
Earthquake early warning videos (more info) This web page features videos of the early warning system in action, images of some professional poster presentations, and a description of an in-class kinesthetic activity about how the early warning system works. It also addresses some of the affective aspects of natural disasters.
Honshu Mw=9 Earthquake 11 March 2011 (more info) This web page, from CIRES, provides information, diagrams, and movies related to the March 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami. These visualizations include mechanisms behind the earthquake and tsunami as well as information about the aftermath of these events. A section on Japan's nuclear power stations and earthquakes is also included.
PPP Kinamatic Solution for the Great Tohoku Earthquake, M9.0 (more info) This website features animations that show coordinate variations every 1 sec. relative to the pre-earthquake a priori coordinates from the March 2011 Japan earthquake. There are four animation movie files available: The top animation shows the co-seismic deformation in a fixed color scale for the entire event and north, east, height components are scaled identically. The deformation is shown in real-time - meaning that every 1-second frame is shown for 1 second. The second animation from the top shows the same but is sped up by a factor of 24. The bottom two animations have an adjusted color scale to emphasize the spatial variability of the seismic waves. Units for the motion are in cm.
US Groundmotion Video of the Earthquake Event Near the East Coast of Japan (more info) This site, from EarthScope, features a groundmotion movie (Quicktime) of North American crust nearly 6 minutes after the terrible Japan earthquake.
How Shifting Plates Caused the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan (more info) This page features USGS visualizations including a slide show of the sudden movement of the Pacific tectonic plate under the North American plate caused a massive earthquake and a tsunami. It also contains maps of the magnitude of shaking and predicted tsunami wave heights from the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
CNN - Earthquake rocks Japan (more info) High resolution images from the aftermath of a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March 2011
Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami (more info) Satellite images, taken by GeoEye, from before and after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Maps: Where the Japan earthquake and tsunami hit (more info) Several maps from the March 11, 2011 tsunami, including earthquake intensity, where the tsunami hit, historical Japanese earthquakes, and tsunami wave travel times.
IRIS: Recent Earthquake Teachable Moments (more info) Powerpoint presentations, animations and other visualizations for anyone who wants to teach about the most recent earthquake in the news.
CNN - Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis (more info) CNN video and articles related to the aftermath of an 9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami and whirlpool.
15 October 2006, Puako, HI, USA
Theoretical P-Wave Travel Times (more info) This page from the USGS displays the predicted travel times of the P-Waves originating from the 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck near Puako, HI on October 15th, 2006. There is a table of data as well as the map visualization.
8 October 2005, Pakistan
Seismograms for 2005 October 8 (more info) This USGS page contains seismograms from more than 25 stations around the world that recorded the waves from the October 8, 2005 Pakistan earthquake.
28 February 2001, Seattle, WA, USA
Video Taken During an Earthquake (more info) This Flash movie by Exploring Earth places a human face on what it is like to actually experience an earthquake. Security cameras record what happens before, during, and after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake near Seattle, Washington. Time stamps in the lower left corner of each movie can be used to gauge quake duration.
General Earthquake Resources
Google Earth Science Seismic Zones (more info) This selection of Google Earth and SketchUp files illustrate and model seismic zones using block models and cross-sections. Regions include Japan, Seattle, the Rockies, San Francisco, Iceland, the New Madrid fault, and I-64 (east coast of US), among others. Right-click each image to download a KMZ file for viewing with Google Earth. To examine KMZ contents, unzip and open the KML source doc with your text editor.
Southern California ShakeOut (more info) These compelling earthquake simulations show ground movement and wave propagation as an earthquake rupture propagates along the San Andreas Fault. These simulations are from the Great Southern California ShakeOut earthquake drill conducted in 2008. The animations capture the shaking at length scales larger than about 300 ft (100 m) and provide detailed animations of the shaking for this scenario earthquake. Several different views are available. The files are QuickTime and are available in three different resolutions.
Seven Days (more info) A movie from the Southern California Earthquake Center showing two approximately magnitude 5 earthquakes that occurred within seven days in Southern California. The second earthquake is on or near the San Andreas fault and led to concern of a much larger earthquake (that did not happen).
IRIS: Seismic Monitor (more info) This site, developed by the IRIS Consortium, provides an interactive display of global seismic activity over the last five years. The data is supplied by the USGS.
Focus of an Earthquake (more info) This simple Flash animation by McGraw-Hill shows the relationship between earthquake focus and earthquake epicenter which is found directly above the focus. Also displayed in the animation are the fault plane, fault scarp, and fault trace.
Formation of a Tsunami (more info) This Flash animation, by McGraw-Hill, illustrates the steps involved in producing a tsunami. First, motion along a submerged fault plane causes a column of water to rise directly above the epicenter. As the wave approaches the shore, it slows, wave height grows, and wave crests grow closer together. The heightened wave then reaches the shore and can extend far inland, destroying everything in its path. Tsunami-like waves can also be caused by underwater landslides. Be sure to check out our Tsunami Visualization Collection for more.
