Reading An Earthquake Seismogram - SERC - Carleton

Skip to Main ContentSkip to Navigation Login EarthScope ANGLE > Educational Materials > Materials Collection > Reading an Earthquake Seismogram Reading an Earthquake Seismogram Jennifer Pickering, Alaska Pacific University and Anchorage School District Author Profile This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection. (view details) Hide

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are

• Scientific Accuracy
• Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
• Pedagogic Effectiveness
• Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
• Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page

For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.

Initial Publication Date: February 15, 2022 | Reviewed: August 4, 2022 (see revision history: 2 events) Show Less

• First Publication: February 15, 2022
• Reviewed: August 4, 2022 -- Reviewed by the On the Cutting Edge Activity Review Process

Summary

Introductory lesson presenting the information about an earthquake that can be gained from a single seismogram, such as the amplitude of shaking experienced by the site, and approximate distance from the site to the earthquake epicenter. Educators can provide seismograms from any source, for example the Raspberry Shake ShakeNet data portal. (Opens in new window)

Show more information on NGSS alignment Hide NGSS ALIGNMENT Disciplinary Core Ideas Earth and Human Activity: MS-ESS3-2 Waves and their Applications: MS-PS4-1, MS-PS4-2, HS-PS4-1

Seismology, Tectonics, Geoscience, Earthquakes, Natural Hazards | Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14)

Expand for more detail and links to related resources

Activity Classification and Connections to Related Resources Collapse

Topics

Seismology, Tectonics, Geoscience, Earthquakes, Natural Hazards

Grade Level

Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14) Follow the links above to find activities from Teach the Earth on a specific topic. Share your modifications and improvements to this activity through the Community Contribution Tool »

Context

Audience

× This activity can be done with introductory geoscience learners from late elementary through secondary or even early college.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Learners should be familiar with plate tectonics and seismic P and S waves. Activities that will help learners with the background knowledge for seismic waves are Human Wave: Modeling P and S Waves and Seismic Slinky.

How the activity is situated in the course

This activity can be used to initially engage learners to the study of earthquakes, with scaffolded co-teaching about seismic waves. If learners have already been introduced to earthquakes and seismic waves, this activity is a good introduction to a deeper dive in seismology.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

• Identify P-waves and S-waves on a seismogram
• Interpret P-wave and S-wave arrival times to determine the distance from the earthquake hypocenter to the seismometer

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

• Interpret graphical data

Skills goals for this activity

• Access data from an online data portal

Description and Teaching Materials

Activity

See attached file for instructor notes, NGSS alignment, and links to supporting resources, including an example seismogram that students can start with. Reading an Earthquake Seismogram Activity (Acrobat (PDF) 1.1MB Oct3 23) × Reading an Earthquake Seismogram Activity Provenance: Jennifer Witter, Alaska Pacific University and Anchorage School District Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

Answer key

• Example Seismogram - M6.0 near Chicklaoon KEY -- educator-only file HideExample Seismogram - M6.0 near Chicklaoon KEY

  This file is only accessible to verified educators. If you are a teacher or faculty member and would like access to this file please enter your email address to be verified as belonging to an educator. Email Adress Submit

Supporting Audiovisual

• Video: Accessing seismograms in the ShakeNet data portal
• Animations
  • Horizontal seismograph
  • Vertical seismograph
  • Seismic wave motions
  • Travel time curves
  • 1-component seismogram
  • 3-component seismogram

Teaching Notes and Tips

Instructors can provide seismograms from any source, for example the ShakeNet data portal. See also the Instructor Guide: Getting Started with the ShakeNet Data portal. (Both open in new windows)

Share your modifications and improvements to this activity through the Community Contribution Tool »

Assessment

Evaluate students' ability to interpret the chosen seismogram for P-wave and S-wave arrivals, and their ability to apply this information to determine the distance to the hypocenter. This activity is considered preparatory and, as such, the assessment is more aimed towards gathering a formative understanding of learner knowledge.

References and Resources

• Learn more about Raspberry Shake (Opens in new window)
• Resources for viewing seismograms (Opens in new window) - links to more options for viewing seismograms from different seismic stations and earthquake events
• This activity is part of ANGLE Curricular Pathway 1: Instrumentation.
• Contact ANGLE with questions or comments.

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