Name:
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Japan’s Killer Quake Viewing Guide
1. How many feet did the coast of Japan sink? ____________________
2. What are the fastest waves called? And how fast per second do they travel?
3. What do we find out about S waves? How do they move?
4. What was the final number on the Richter scale? ___________________________
5. What is the cause of the earthquake? What are the plates doing to each other?
6. How long did the Tokyo quake last?__________________________________
7. How are Tsunamis created?
8. Why did the Tsunami wave behave so different in differ areas?
9. What are 3 ways that the people in Miyako were prepared?
a.
b.
c.
10. Why did the 30 ft Tsunami at Miyako over flow and flood the 30 ft flood barrier walls?
11. Why did whirl pools form? _______________________________________________________
12. How did the salt water lake form in the isolated mountain pass?
13. How far has the surface of Ofanatu subsided (sunk)?
14. What is an aftershock?
15. How many aftershocks where there in the weeks after the quake? ______________
16. How do aftershocks happen?
17. In the nuclear plant at Fukishima, hydrogen gas ignited and exploded. What are 3 types of energy that were
released in this chemical reaction?
a.
b.
c.
18. Why are they worried about the Tokyo plate, when the earthquake was hundreds of miles away?
List 6 effects that earthquakes have on earth’s surface?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Write 6 sentences about the way energy released from an earthquake changes the surface of the earth.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Write a five sentence reflection on this video. What did you think was the most impactful? Why? What did you find
most interesting? Why? What do you want to know more about?
Japan’s killer quake--KEY
1. How many feet did the coast of Japan sink? ___1 meter or 3 feet_____________
2. *****What are the fastest waves called? And how fast per second do they travel?
The fastest seismic waves are called P WAVES and they travel about 3 miles/second
3. ****What do we find out about S waves? How do they move?
S waves are slower than P waves but they are more destructive because they shake the ground from side to side.
4. What was the final number on the Richter scale? _________9.0_____________
5. ****What is the cause of the earthquake? What are the plates doing to each other?
The Pacific plate is being pulled under the Eurasian plate. This is called subduction. As the pacific plate slides
under the Eurasian plate part of it catches. This builds up energy as the plate continues to sink. When there is
enough energy built up it will snap back and release all that stored energy.
For a visual of this I would watch the video from this link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/japan-killerquake.html Just watch the part at time 7:30-8:30
6. How long did the Tokyo quake last?______5 mins___________________
7. ****How are Tsunamis created?
When the earthquake strikes underneath the ocean it pushes a column of water straight up. This creates ripples
that travel out from the center of the earthquake. Think of it like a giant plastic tub of water that you hit from
underneath.
8. ***Why did the Tsunami wave behave so different in differ areas?
Tsunamis travel fast in the deep water. As they hit land the water is forced up and creates a large wave. The
coastlines and the shape of the land can funnel it onto different areas and create even larger waves. The best
example of this is Ofanatu where the canyon walls funneled all the water directly at the city.
9. What are 3 ways that the people in Miyako were prepared?
a. Large sea walls, with locking doors
b. Drills and Sirens
c. Hills
10. Why did the 30 ft Tsunami at Miyako over flow and flood the 30 ft flood barrier walls?
The ground sunk 3+ feet which lowered the walls and the geography of the land funneled the water directly at
Miyako.
11. Why did whirl pools form? ____As the wave retreated back out to see the currents created the whirl pools____
12. How did the salt water lake form in the isolated mountain pass?
13. How far has the surface of Ofanatu subsided (sunk)?
1 meter or 3 feet
14. ****What is an aftershock?
An earthquake that can be small or quite large that was caused by the earth quake .
15. How many aftershocks where there in the weeks after the quake? _____500+_________
16. ****How do aftershocks happen?
When an earthquake happens a lot of energy is released. Some energy travels through water and rock as P and
S waves. As energy travels through the rock it “load” or transfers energy to other places on the fault line.
Aftershocks—earthquakes that happen because of the energy transfer to another part of the fault.
17. In the nuclear plant at Fukishima, hydrogen gas ignited and exploded. What are 3 types of energy that were
released in this chemical reaction?
a.
b.
c.
18. *****Why are they worried about the Tokyo plate, when the earthquake was hundreds of miles away?
The large Japanese earthquake (9.0) transferred energy to different parts of the fault which could cause a large
earthquake in the Tokyo, the world’s largest city with 30+Million people (roughly the size of 10 times Utah’s Population)
****List 6 effects that earthquakes have on earth’s surface?
a. Giant crack in crust
b. Changed earth’s axis
c. Coast of Japan shifted 10 feet out to sea
d. Coast sinks up to 3.5 meters
e. Liquefaction—the quake’s energy creates pressure and causes the sand to behave like a liquid. The dirt,
which is a solid at normal pressure becomes liquid-like, a phase change!
f. Destroys surface features
g. Transfers energy to other parts of the plate boundary
h. Rises mountains
i. Creates tsunamis
j. Whirlpools
k. Death of biotic (living)