INVESTIGATING EARTHQUAKES

REPORTING RESULTS

By Victoria Voronovich

TOP-10 LIST-THE “NEXT BIG ONE”

Western Siberia

Coast of western

South America

Arctic ocean above

Russia

Indonesia

West coast of Mexico

West Coast of America off of Oregon and Washington State

British Colombia, Canada

Northern Border of India

New Zealand

Pacific Islands

NEXT MAJOR EARTHQUAKE

I think that the next major earthquake is going to

happen in an island in the Pacific Ocean, probably

off the coast of New Zealand or around there. I

think this because of the big New Zealand

Earthquake in Christchurch, and the even bigger

Japanese earthquake earlier this month. It seems

that the pacific plate is under a lot of stress right

now, and there is a large concentration of dots

scattered around the area.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT

EARTHQUAKES AND EARTHQUAKE

PREDICTION?

I have learned that earthquakes can be predicted,

but that doesn’t mean that it can be expected. Also,

earthquakes are caused by stress in the mantle

under the area of the quake, when it has to escape

somewhere. The stress can build up for months or

even years before a major quake.

WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE EARTHQUAKE

PREDICTION?

Factors that influence earthquake prediction are

Time between earthquakes

Location (on a plate boundary or not)

The build-up of stress in the mantle below the area

of the quake

WHERE ON EARTH DO MOST OF THE BIG

EARTHQUAKES STRIKE?

A lot of the really big earthquakes strike around

tectonic plate boundaries, especially the Pacific and

North American, and Pacific and Eurasian. Some

can happen in the Caribbean plate, as we’ve seen

with the Haitian earthquake last year, too.