Story Map about earthquakes globally

The aim of this project is to use gis software to be able to communicate information about a topic of global earth quakes. As well as use GIS as a tool to read information from in a more effective way than with typical methods. As well as use GIS to study about earth quakes.

An earthquake can be defined as the vibration and shaking of the earth's surface as a result of energy realized suddenly in the lithosphere which creates seismic waves. The effects of an earthquake can be from undetectable to severe. On the surface of the earthquakes manifests by displacing, shaking, and disrupting around the globe. The size of the earthquakes can range from those so small that they are not felt to shakes that cause severe natural and urbanized area damage and loss of human lives(Onaka,2013).

On the surface the earthquakes manifests by displacing, shaking, and destruction around the globe. It can cause bridges and buildings to get damaged or completely collapse damaging electricity, telephone, and gas services. And triggering floods landslides, tsunami, and fires (Waikato region emergency management,2021), the last two will look at in more detail below.

The maps below are global and case study maps to present all earthquakes based on data on earthquakes that happened in the last week. The source of data for all the maps below is the  USGS website . The maps also look at providing more insight into why earthquakes happen, the magnitude of earthquakes(Maps 1, Map2 & Map3) worldwide and their position near the tectonic plates(Map2), the types of tectonic plates(Map3), and the side effects of earthquakes such as tsunamis and bush fire( Map4 & Map 5).

Seismic magnitude scales are used by seismologists to measure or define the overall strength of an earthquake. They are usually decided through measuring seismic waves. Magnitude estimates the relative size of an earthquake and hence the potential for it t to shake the ground. And is related to seismic energy(Abe,1979). The map below(Map 1) looks at different magnitudes of earthquakes around the world in the last 7 days.

Earth takes place cracks in the crust of the plane called fault lines. In fault lines is where the tectonic plates meet causing spreading, slipping ,collision or sub ducting. These plates get stuck together building up pressure which get very intense pressure builds up so great they finally break loose causing these earthquakes. Earthquakes in New Zealand happen because NZ is connected to two major plate boundaries.

Map (2) shows the regions that are hit by strong magnitude earth quakes are areas were two of the plate boundaries are meeting . It dose not however show which types of plate boundaries.

There are four types of plate boundaries: Transfome, ridge , coverging and diffuse boundaries:

1.Transform boundary is a fault that happen alongside the plate boundary were motion is ,mostly horizontal (Moores & Twiss ,2014). The fault line ends were its connected to another boundary either another forms a subduction zone(Kearey,2007).

1. 2.Ridge plate boundary that is formed by plate tectonics is an underwater mountain range.It uplifts ocean floors when a rise in convection currents rises in the earth's mantle underneath the ocean's crust, creating magma where two tectonic plates meet at a divergent boundary(Macdonald ,2019).

3.convergant boundary: An area in the planet where a collision of two or more lithospheric plates occurs. Eventually, one plate will slide below the other plate causing what is known as subduction. The subduction zones can be defined through a plane where earthquakes happen (Wicander & Monroe,2016).

4.Diffuse boundary: are plate which contains hundreds to thousands of kilometer wide zones of deformation occurs in both oceanic and nonoceanic plate lithosphere.It gets its name from the fact that the poles of relative rotation of adjacent components is separated and lie on a diffuse plate boundary (Zatman et al 2005)

Map 3 expands on map 2 this time to find out why earthquakes are happening where they are. This map adds the different types of plate boundaries and looks at different regions such as New Zealand and Mexico. From the image, it is clear that when studying Mexico and NZ the converging and transform boundaries are a reason for earthquakes in those regions.

There are many side effects of earthquakes, one is tsunamis. Which are a series of giant waves in a water body such as a large lake or ocean, caused by the displacement of large volumes of water. They are generated by volcanic eruptions, underground collisions, meteorite collisions, but a large part due to earthquakes(Levin & Nosov ,2009).Map 4 below shows the impacts of Tsunanami using Japan as a case study(Map4).

Another side effect of earthquakes is they can cause fires as well as bush fires(Graph2). As the ground shake's and moves cracks happen in gas lines, electrical wiring, and power lines damage which can ignite fire (Video3). These structures can also be damaged by liquefaction on sandy and silt soils (Wellington region emergency management,2021). Map 5 shows that bushfires occur in regions where earthquakes happen, with USA as a case study. That said there are of course other reasons wildfires can happen(Video 4).

The use of arcgis story map, can be a very informative way to both analyze and communicate information. It makes an essay a lot more interactive and allows for interesting components that are not necessarily available through scientific literature such as videos found online or information on unofficial sources as social apps like Facebook. This method of analysis is the future and certainly gave me insight into the topic of earthquakes and their effects.