ShakeAlert: GPS and Slow Extension Across the Basin and Range Province

Resource 11 Related Resources Activitiess Animations Videos ShakeAlert: GPS and Slow Extension Across the Basin and Range Province Open Novice English Open Resource Ground deformation occurs at plate boundaries and within tectonic plates, such as the Basin and Range Province, where extension and rifting can be measured using GPS data. Rocks deform elastically over time, storing potential energy, which is released as kinetic, thermal, and acoustic energy during earthquakes, with ground motion recorded by seismometers and GPS sensors. This triad of activities helps learners explore ground deformation through hands-on experiences and data analysis while practicing map reading and vector scaling: In this 5-Minute Activity , learners use marble tongs to observe and feel rock elasticity, comparing it to rubber bands and springs, helping them challenge and change their misconceptions about how rocks deform and return to their original shape. In this 20-25 Minute Activity , learners analyze GPS data from the Basin and Range Province to infer how changing ground motion velocity and extensional forces contribute to rifting and increased earthquake likelihood over time. In this 50-Minute Activity , learners are guided from understanding rock elasticity using marble tongs, to kinesthetically modeling extensional forces in the Basin and Range Province, and finally analyzing GPS ground motion maps to identify regions of highest earthquake hazard. Learners conclude by discussing earthquake preparedness strategies, including the importance of ShakeAlert-powered alerts. With over 143 million people in the U.S. at risk from earthquakes, understanding ground motion and plate deformation is critical. Tools like ShakeAlert use GPS data to provide early warnings, helping to protect lives and infrastructure before strong shaking arrives. Instructors are encouraged to review media resources, appendices, and vocabulary to support learners' understanding of these concepts. Objectives: Learners should be able to: Describe how the elasticity of rocks is fundamental to deformation. Explain that extensional forces within the interior of a tectonic plate can lead to ground deformation resulting in continental rifting. Analyze and interpret GPS ground motion maps to determine relative speed and direction of regional ground movement. Identify regions that face higher earthquake hazards using evidence from GPS. Related Activitiess ShakeAlert: Discover Plate Boundaries Through Ground Motion and Deformation Tectonic plates are constantly moving, and GPS instruments help scientists measure this motion, identifying plate boundaries, deformation zones, and earthquake hazards, with rapidly changing regions being at higher seismic risk. This triad of activities engages learners in exploring authentic GPS data, using hand movements to model plate boundaries, creating vectors to analyze motion, and examining real-world GPS data to study deformation and earthquake risks in the western U.S. and Alaska. By interpreting data, role-playing geoscience careers, and learning about ShakeAlert, learners develop key skills in seismology, geodesy, and hazard preparedness while understanding the risks earthquakes pose to over 143 million people in the U.S. Activities Novice ShakeAlert: Pacific Northwest and the Big Squeeze This set of hands-on activities helps students investigate ground deformation and earthquake hazards in the Pacific Northwest using physical models, real-world data, and map analysis. A brief demonstration with a compression spring illustrates how the subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath the North American plate causes varying motion across the region. In longer activities, students measure compression, analyze GPS vector maps, and identify seismic hazard zones. By interpreting real-world data, students develop a deeper understanding of tectonic forces and connect these concepts to earthquake preparedness strategies. Activities Novice Kinesthetic Modeling & Interpreting GPS Data Maps In this activity, learners explore ground deformation at and near plate boundaries using hand and body motions, data from GPS and maps. In the 5-minute activity, learners explore the concept of vectors by kinesthetically enacting ground movement using their body and hand movements. In the 20-minute activity, learners model GPS ground motion in different regions and connect deformation to earthquake hazards. In the 45-minute activity learners distinguish between different boundary types by measuring the vectors within tectonic plates and identify regions with higher earthquake hazards, comparing their findings to earthquake shaking potential maps. Activities Novice Related Animations ShakeAlert Earthquake Alert Times in the Pacific Northwest What would you do with seconds to prepare for earthquake shaking? With even a few seconds, the ShakeAlert® Earthquake Early Warning can save lives and reduce injuries by alerting people that an earthquake may cause shaking near you as it triggers automated actions. Animation Novice ShakeAlert—El sistema de alerta Temprana para la Costa Oeste de los EEUU Más de 143 millones de personas en Estados Unidos están expuestas al temblor potencialmente destructivo de los terremotos. ¿Cómo funciona ShakeAlert? Esta animación explica cómo funciona ShakeAlert. Animation Novice ShakeAlert: Earthquake Early Warning System for the West Coast This new animation (2020) describes the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning app: How it works, why we should have it. Made in collaboration with governmental agencies and universities on the West Coast. Animation Novice ShakeAlert©: Earthquake Early Warning System ShakeAlert  (www.shakealert.org) is an experimental earthquake early warning system (EEW) being tested in the seismically vulnerable West Coast of the United States. This animation shows how ShakeAlert worked for the Napa earthquake, and how it could work for a large M7.8 hypothetical earthquake in Southern California. Animation Novice ShakeAlert©: Terremoto de Alerta Temprana ShakeAlert trabaja detectando ondas P que arriban  a los  sismómetros más cercanos al terremoto, enviando esas señales a la velocidad de la luz hasta un sistema computarizado que determina la localización de terremotos, y el tiempo de viaje de ambas ondas P y S a su localización, después  alerta cuanto tiempo le queda hasta que lleguen las ondas S destructivas. Animation Novice ShakeAlert®—Sistema de Alerta Temprana de Terremotos para el Noroeste del Pacífico El 11 de marzo del 2011, un devastador terremoto de magnitud 9 sacudió la costa de Tohoku, Japón. El 26 de Enero del año 1700, la Costa Oeste de los Estados Unidos experimentó un mega terremoto generador de tsunami similar.  Un terremoto como este estremecerá nuevamente la zona de subducción de Cascadia, impactando toda la Costa Oeste. Animation Novice Related Videos Elastic Rebound Demonstration using a Yardstick Video lecture about elastic rebound and brittle material in the crust using a yardstick as a mechanical analog. This demonstrates elasticity, brittle fracture, and why it is difficult to predict earthquakes. Video Novice Elastic Rebound—Earthquake Machine & Rocks-can-bend Demo This demonstration shows that rocks are elastic by squeezing a slit core of rock. Video Novice We encourage the reuse and dissemination of the material on this site as long as attribution is retained. 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