Objectives for the topic: Seismic Hazards

Reading: Chapter 16 in Tarbuck and Lutgens

Images to understand: 16.18, Box 16.2, 19, 21, Box 16.4, 26, 27

After completing this topic, the student will be able to:

1. Describe the formation of a tsunami from an undersea earthquake.
2. List the three factors that determine the amount of ground shaking associated with an earthquake.
3. Define a seismic gap and explain its significance to earthquake hazards studies.
4. Describe the evidence for megaquakes in the Pacific Northwest and when the last one occurred.
5. Describe the three types of earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest, where (in a plate tectonic sense) they occur, and their relative magnitudes.
6. Explain the methods, potential and pitfalls of scientific earthquake prediction.
7. Explain the statement “Earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do.”