Name ______________________________
Earthquake Plotting Investigation
Date ____________
Period ____
Procedure:
A) Using the information given on the back, plot each earthquake on the world map by
finding the region where the latitude and longitude lines intersect.
1) Find the longitude line first (longitude lines go up and down)
- start at 0 at the top right side of the page
- move your finger along the top either east (right) or west (left), until you get the
longitude you are looking for (be careful with 90 E to 180 E)
2) Find the latitude line next
- start at 0 (equator) on either the right side or left side of the map
- move your finger either north (up) or south (down), until it hits the latitude line
you want.
3) Find where the lines intersect
- move both fingers along both lines, until you find where the lines meet
- where the lines meet (intersect) is the location of the earthquake.
B) When you find the intersection, color in a large “spot” at that location.
C) Do the same with all the other earthquake locations
Questions / Observations:
1) Are earthquakes scattered randomly around the map, or do they seem to be located
in specific patterns or regions? Explain.
2) There are earthquakes in the middle of some ocean, like the Atlantic. But in others,
they are located on the sides/edges of the ocean. There are earthquakes on the
edges of some continents, but not in the middle of continents.
Write a good hypothesis to explain this weird phenomenon.
MAJOR EARTHQUAKES OF THE LAST 100 YEARS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
19)
20)
21)
22)
23)
24)
25)
26)
27)
28)
29)
30)
longitude
latitude
140 W
60 W
10 E
80 E
125 W
60 E
130 E
100 W
20 E
30 W
85 W
30 W
145 E
175 W
40 E
165 E
105 W
110 E
10 W
30 E
125 W
100 E
50 E
40 W
90 E
125 W
165 E
120 W
70 W
70 E
50 N
60 S
45 N
25 N
10 N
15 N
25 N
35 S
50 S
65 S
10 N
45 N
45 N
70 N
20 N
60 S
20 N
5S
60 S
35 N
45 S
10 N
55 S
30 N
25 N
25 S
25 S
40 N
10 N
0S
31)
32)
33)
34)
35)
36)
37)
38)
39)
40)
41)
42)
43)
44)
45)
46)
47)
48)
49)
50)
51)
52)
53)
54)
55)
56)
57)
58)
59)
60)
longitude
latitude
15 W
45 E
70 W
145 E
120 W
15 W
175 E
30 W
180 E
120 W
135 E
150 W
60 E
70 W
50 E
180 W
130 E
160 W
95 E
70 W
65 E
130 W
50 W
70 E
0W
150 E
20 W
80 W
20 W
10 W
65 N
30 N
30 N
20 S
30 N
30 S
40 S
0N
20 S
15 N
0S
60 N
30 N
25 S
10 N
60 N
55 S
60 N
50 S
45 S
15 S
5S
15 N
45 S
70 N
30 S
60 N
5S
45 S
15 S