Final paper and presentation

1
Final paper and presentation
Name Paper topics Hilary Arden A comparison
between the 1923 Tokyo and 1995 Kobe earthquakes
in Japan Sam Bernstein The Northridge
earthquake Zach Dauber The Life of Alfred
Wegener Ricky Gilbert The Loma Prieta
earthquake Jordan Gray The Sumatra
earthquakeEugene Han Mt St Helens Lindsey
Howard EarthquakesLogan Levine The K/T
boundaryHannah Maier Erta Ale volcano Michelle
Mantua Earthquakes in the Byzantine empire Mike
Monticciolo Regina Ortega The history of the
Theory of Plate Tectonics Evan Ryser The
Geodynamo Jordan Sames Mt Peelee Eric
Schumm Earths structureAmanda Shaffer Marisa
Seiss Formation of planetary systemsTasha
Vardya Early Earth Jack Wheeler Yellowstone
National Park Lex Williams The Kobe earthquake
2
Exam II
Apparent polar wander
Apparent means that the poles are not
wandering, but that the continents have moved
while the poles are fixed.
3
Exam II
How long has Earths magnetic field existed?

• Many of you said 3 billion years How do you
  know this?
• Some of you mentioned the importance
• of the inner core in the Geodynamo, and thatthe
  inner core spins faster than the outer core.

4
Exam II
Earthquake magnitude scales Richter magnitude -
measurement of wave amplitude on a Wood-Anderson
seismograph. Technically, applied only to
Southern California!! Mb - measurement of wave
amplitude of a 1-s period body wave Ms
- measurement of wave amplitude of a 20-s period
surface wave Mw - Quantity of the energy
release by an earthquake. Gives estimate of
fault length and fault slip (offset). Mi
- Mercalli intensity. Scale of the effect of
earthquakes Important before instrumental era,
but still used to compare historic earthquakes
to present day earthquakes Many of you mentioned
the teleseismic magnitude.Where is this coming
from?
5
Exam II
Mantle plume and Hawaii
Note that the Emperor sea mount chain is
parallelto the plate motion direction of the
Pacific plate
6
Class feedback

• Plate tectonics is a fascinating topic
• Level may be a bit too high for a 100 course (
  but manageable).
• I think personally that I have aimed a little too
  high
• Dont like earth watch especially weather
  topics
• II like the Earth Watch presentationsIntended
  to give you practice standing in front of a
• (unruly) crowd and in preparing a focused
  presentation
• Homework amount is satisfactoryWe have three
  exams, one earth-watch, and one group
  presentation.
• Is this too much?
• Need more group discussions
• Too many speeches
• More videos and real life applications
• One or two more videos coming up.
• Next week we will do a group dance tosimulate
  material circulation in the Earth
• Dont like the lecturingDont like lecturing
  either, and I will minimize it as much as I can

7
Class feedback

• More field tripsI tried Hands-on museum. It is
  practically not feasible.Fewer than 10 students
  came to the Museum two weeks ago (!).
• We will do a GeoWall field trip in the next few
  weeks here in CC Little.
• Too many examsTough!
• I will hand out Exam III on Thursday the March
  16.
• It will be take-home, and it is due back on March
  28.
• You can submit questions (now!) by e-mail and I
  choose the best 5 to 8
• A total of 10 credit points go to the students
  who came up with these questions.
• Deadline is Wednesday March 15 at 8 pm.
• Previously, students received more As at
  seminars
• Anybody with a score of 85 and higher MAY look
  forward to an A (more than 90 is A ).
• 10 page final paper seems a lot
• Okay, we will make it 8 pages, including
  figures.Your grade will depend mostly on how
  clever you make the paper.

8
Class feedback

• Nice laid-back atmosphere
• Dislike of unruly/disruptive students
• This is not High-School. It is up to you to show
  up for class and learn!
• I do not want to keep attendance, pop-quizzes,
  and homework assignments. I want the atmosphere
  to be laid-back to stimulate group discussion.I
  am not entirely happy with the class
  involvement.
• I am very displeased with constant chattering in
  the classroom.
• I find this disruptive, annoying and
  disrespectful.
• I will ask guilty students to leave if they
  cannot stop.

9
Earthquake location P S wave propagation times
The time between P and S wave signals
constrainsthe distance of the seismograph from
the earthquake