Dangerous and Natural Energy

Real Science 1

Unit 4 – Dangerous and Natural Energy

Marlea Arledge

SC300

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Real Science 2

What are the familiar patterns across the United States when it comes to the distribution of earthquakes? Am I at risk living in Ohio? Just in the United States, the mountain area looks like they would be hit by earthquakes more than the open land areas. The urban areas in the West are more likely to have earthquakes, Utah especiallyand also the states that center around the rim of the Pacific Ocean which has the nickname the “Ring of Fire”. I don’t believe that living in Ohio would be a high risk area for earthquakes because we are not close to an ocean or the ocean plates. Anearthquake occurs when one block of the earth slips past another. After a major earthquake occurs, there can be many aftershocks that follow and can continue for weeks.

Looking at the map of the latest earthquakes in the world, the familiarities are showing that most earthquakes occur along the coast of the oceans. I clicked on the magnitude of 3.0 and the region of Fox Island, Aleutian Island, and Alaska which is not a red area. Even though earthquakes appear to be occurring along the ocean, I noticed that there are not many earthquakes in Florida because it’s not located between the plates. The highest area of earthquakes is Alaska because it is the most seismically active regions in the world. Alaska experiences a magnitude 7 earthquake almost every year. This tells me that earthquakes happen more frequently between the Pacific plate and the North American Plate and 400 miles below the surface. The lower risks areas would center around Florida and the middle of the United States because there are less stress accumulation and slippage along faults which is the cause of earthquakes.

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Real Science 3

Would I be willing to live in one of the red areas on the map that is more likely to have an earthquake? The studies indicate that earthquake losses in the...