PART I: SIMULATING AN EARTHQUAKE

What does the purple circle represent? Primary Wave

What does the green circle represent? Secondary Wave
Which wave (P wave or S wave) has the greater speed? Primary
Which type of wave appears to be stronger as displayed on the seismogram? Secondary
What is the unit of distance represented by each square of the grid on the map? 100 km
What is the distance from the station to the epicenter of the earthquake? Will vary

P-Wave Time S-Wave Time Δ T (seconds) Distance from

(seconds) (seconds) Epicenter (km)
66 116 50 398
86 147 61 500
103 179 76 601
120 210 90 700
138 238 100 798
160 268 108 899

P-Wave = 5.8 km/sec S-Wave = 3.4 km/sec ∆ T = 8.0 km/sec

S & P Wave Arrival Times

1000

900
UT
800
Distance (kilometers)

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (seconds)

Seismic Waves 1
PART II: DETERMINING THE EPICENTER
Use the graph above to convert lag times to distances. (Data may vary)

Station A Station B Station C

T Distance T Distance T Distance
(sec) (km) (sec) (km) (sec) (km)
53 400 50 380 20 160
45 350 26 200 35 270
60 440 34 270 40 320

PART III: USING ACTUAL DATA TO DETERMINE THE EPICENTER

In what state did the epicenter occur? Northwestern Arizona (see map next page)

Recording Station P-wave Arrival S-wave Arrival S-P Lag Time Distance to
Time Time (seconds) Epicenter (km)
Los Angeles, CA 11 : 06 . 06 PST 11 : 07 . 10 PST 64 540
San Francisco, CA 11 : 06 . 20 PST 11 : 08 . 00 PST 100 800
Salt Lake City, UT 12: 08 . 06 MST 12 : 09 . 22 MST 76 600
Albuquerque, NM 12: 08 . 45 MST 12 : 10 . 15 MST 90 700

THE RICHTER NOMOGRAM

S–P Distance Richter Amplitude

(sec) (km) Magnitude (mm)

In what state did the epicenter occur? California (San Andreas) (See map last page)

Seismic Waves 2
 Station S-P Lag Time Distance to Amplitude Magnitude
(sec) Epicenter (km) (mm)
Eureka, CA 50 400 270 7.0
Elko, NV 64 550 100 6.75
Las Vegas, NV 72 580 60 6.6

SLC

SF

ALB
LA

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Distance (kilometers)

Seismic Waves 3
 SLC

SF

ALB
LA

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Distance (kilometers)

Seismic Waves 4