In this video adapted from Alaska Sea Grant, discover why multiple tsunamis resulted from the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964.

This site provides 26 films of San Francisco from before and after the Great Earthquake and Fire. The earthquake struck on April 18, 1906, along the San Andreas Fault, damaging most central California cities and killing more than 3,000 people. These films show Market Street, Chinatown, a parade, San Francisco viewed from a balloon, and vast devastation from the 8.3 magnitude earthquake and 3-day fire.

Using this activity, students will learn about the effects of earthquakes and how various soil types react during an earthquake. This lesson gives students first-hand experience in making design decisions similar to those made in the real world.

CK-12 users should treat this FlexBook as an online textbook for Earth Science courses. This FlexBook underwent a thorough review conducted by practicing teachers, domain experts, copyeditors, and technical editors. It can be used in its current form, "flexed" (customized), and/or printed by the user. CK-12 supports feedback on all of its FlexBooks so that they can be continually improved and updated, while remaining aligned with state standards and curriculum guidelines.

This digital textbook was reviewed for its alignment with California content standards.

Historical images on a map of California show disasters--flood, earthquake, fire, and disasease--throughout the state.

This animation shows a cumulative view of earthquake activity for the whole world from 1980 through 1995. Each dot on the image represents the number of earthquakes with magnitude greater than 4.2 that have occurred in a 0.35 by 0.35 degree area of the globe since January 1, 1980. A yellow dot represents 1 or 2 earthquakes, an orange dot represents about 10 earthquakes, and a red dot represents 50 to 200 earthquakes. The background image, if present, shows the topography of the ocean floor. As the animation proceeds, the earthquakes clearly accumulate around the topographic features that represent the boundaries of the Earths crustal plates. This animation is based on data from world-wide seismic networks and was obtained from the National Earthquake Center of the United States Geological Survey.

This document outlines the development of the theory of continental drift and how many lines of evidence collected over several decades by various researchers were brought together to explain how the seafloor spreads and the continents move about. Links to additional information are included.

The people who came to California in search of gold were faced with the threat of disaster in every step of their journey. Many came by ship, even though shipwrecks were commonplace ? one set of lithographs depicts four shipwrecks that occurred within 60 days. Earthquakes were another fact of life in California. Sensational newspaper illustrations like "Earth Quakey Times," and photographs showing buildings in shambles, helped build the state's reputation as an "earthquake capital." Earthquakes were not the only disasters. Several images show the city of Sacramento flooded and on fire, others show fires that destroyed parts of San Francisco and other cities. As the photograph of the firefighters at the Eureka firehouse show, some services were in place to deal with this constant threat. The popular culture of the time reflected these recurring disasters. Artists drew pictures based on survivors? accounts of train crashes and shipwrecks. Composers wrote music such as the "Flood Mazurka," about a flood in Sacramento, and songs such as "I Do Not Want to Be Drowned," dedicated to survivors of the shipwreck of the Golden Gate. Despite the many potential dangers and risks of traveling to and living in California, new people kept flowing into the state. In many ways, this situation still holds true today.

This activity is a teacher-led demonstration of continental drift and includes a math worksheet for students involving the calculation of continental drift over time. Students will understand what continental drift is, why it occurs, and how earthquakes occur because of it.

CK-12 Earth Science Honors For Middle School covers the study of Earth - its minerals and energy resources, processes inside and on its surface, its past, water, weather and climate, the environment and human actions, and astronomy.

CK-12 Earth Science For High School covers the study of Earth - its minerals and energy resources, processes inside and on its surface, its past, water, weather and climate, the environment and human actions, and astronomy.

CK-12 Earth Science For Middle School covers the study of Earth - its minerals and energy resources, processes inside and on its surface, its past, water, weather and climate, the environment and human actions, and astronomy.

The ability to see Earth from space has forever changed our view of the planet. We are now able to look at the Earth as a whole, and observe how its atmosphere, oceans, land masses, and life interact as global systems. Earths atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere are dynamic, changing on timescales of days, minutes, or even seconds. Monitoring the Earth in near real time allows us to get an up to date picture of conditions on our planet. More SVS visualizations for the Earth Today exhibit can be found in animation ids 328 and 1401.

The ability to see Earth from space has forever changed our view of the planet. We are now able to look at the Earth as a whole, and observe how its atmosphere, oceans, land masses, and life interact as global systems. Earths atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere are dynamic, changing on timescales of days, minutes, or even seconds. Monitoring the Earth in near real time allows us to get an up to date picture of conditions on our planet. More SVS visualizations for the Earth Today exhibit are in animation ids 1401 and 1402.

The ability to see Earth from space has forever changed our view of the planet. We are now able to look at the Earth as a whole, and observe how its atmosphere, oceans, land masses, and life interact as global systems. Earths atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere are dynamic, changing on timescales of days, minutes, or even seconds. Monitoring the Earth in near real time allows us to get an up to date picture of conditions on our planet. More SVS visualizations for the Earth Today exhibit can be found in animation ids 328 and 1402.

This USGS site has an online form that lets the user select parameters to perform a rectangular area search for earthquakes. The user must define the output file type, data base, and input rectangular area search parameters and has the option of defining the date, magnitude, depth and intensity of an earthquake.

This homework exercise is designed to familiarize students with earthquake shaking, acceleration, intensity and hazards, including the quantitative measurement of these properties. Students analyze real earthquake data to determine the damage to their homes. By using students' own homes, they see the impacts of shaking, hazard, and intensity in a more personal, connected way. Learning goals, context for use, teaching tips, materials, assessment tips and related resources are provided.

Fact-sheet describing the various characteristics of an earthquake. Includes exercises which would be useful revision activities.

Earthquakes shake the ground surface, can cause buildings to collapse, disrupt transport and services, and can cause fires. They can trigger landslides and tsunami - in short, earthquakes can be very destructive. In this unit you will look at why, where and what happens when they occur and also at how earthquakes are assessed qualitatively and quantitatively.