Only USGS Links

Earthquake statistics.

An ArcGIS geonarrative Storymap describing the three earthquakes along the subduction zone off the south coast of Alaska in 2020 and 2021.

Science for Everyone article

How to prepare your business for an earthquake

Plain-language summary of a 2018 research paper.

Can animals predict earthquakes? Can they sense shaking that humans can't. What are the facts about animals and earthquakes?

Flash animations illustrating basic earthquake terms and concepts.

A Science for Everyone article: In a win-win situation for both seismologists and space physicists, a cheap magnetometer at a seismic station can result in better seismic data for earthquakes and also more geomagnetic data in real time for monitoring space weather.

What does the science say? Where does the information come from? And what does it mean? Investigating past earthquakes to inform the future.

What does a geophysicist do? What do you need to study in school to become a geophysicist? What are the opportunities?

Could a large damaging tsunami happen in the United States?

Details on the rupture of the two earthquakes, the shaking distribution, aftershock zone, estimated fatality numbers, and comparisons between the two.

A plain language article about subduction zone models and how they help us understand large earthquakes.

fascinating earthquake facts

Educational slides for the M8.3 Coquimbo, Chile M8.3 earthquake.

Two of the first questions that come to mind for anyone who just felt an earthquake are, ?Will there be another one?? and ?Will it be larger??.

Information about creep on faults, and specifically the Hayward fault.

Educational slideset for the 09/03/2010 Darfield, New Zealand Earthquake and its Aftershocks, Including the 02/21/2011 Christchurch Event.

An ArcGIS geo-narrative storymap that describes how scientists can learn about the approximate time and magnitude of past earthquakes by looking at how they are "recorded" in the sediments under the surface of the Earth.

brief discussion on depths of earthquakes

Follow the daily activities of a team of geologists and paleoseismologists as they dig a trench and collect data on the Teton Fault. (from a fieldwork blog September 15-21, 2017)

Portal for teachers and students for learn the basics about earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, topography, and sea level changes.

Deadly earthquakes, damaging EQs, EQ density maps, world and US statistics, historical EQ lists, largest EQ lists, last EQ in..., significant EQ catalogs, seismicity maps of the world and US.

An examination of strange and unexplained sounds that are sometimes heard accompanying earthquakes.

The goal of an earthquake early warning (EEW) system is to provide an alert to people and automatic systems after an earthquake begins but before the shaking reaches their location. As the USGS and its partners are developing an EEW system, called ShakeAlert®, for the West Coast, the benefits, costs, capabilities, and limitations are being investigated. Two recent studies explored the timeliness and accuracy of alerts.

Companion to "Earthquakes, Megaquakes, and the Movies"

How the size of an earthquake is measured. The differences and relationships between magnitude, energy, and fault size is discussed and shown with images.

A series of short articles for students, teachers, and parents originally published as weekly features in The San Francisco Chronicle. This USGS General Information Product presents some of the new understanding gained and scientific advances made in the century since the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

A timeline showing the evolution of earthquake science and seismometers through the ages to present.

general overview of earthquakes, online USGS general interest publication

PDF format of a complete PowerPoint show for the basics

discussion about facts versus fantasies

Este manual provee información sobre por qué nos deben preocupar los terremotos en el Sur de California, qué debemos hacer para estar seguros y reducir el daño, y también qué debemos saber de lo básico sobre terremotos.

Basic explanation for what a focal mechanism is, and how to interpret them.

New high-resolution lidar data reveals cracks produced from strong shaking in past earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone.

solve a crime, and then use those same skills to understand the Law of Superposition (older layers of the earth on bottom) with a fun Geology Detectives investigation, and then use your skills to solve a geological mystery.

Simulations (videos) from computer models of earthquakes showing the resulting ground shaking.

Old-fashioned interviews are compared to Did You Feel It? responses for this earthquake.

A description of the potential effects of earthquakes on groundwater and wells.

Interactive story map with 62 field trip stops for exploring the Hayward Fault in the East San Francisco Bay Area of California.

The basics of how the USGS National Earthquake Hazard Maps are made.

Paleoseismology along the Wasatch Fault in Utah is helping to estimate the shaking risk to nearby towns.

Discussion of earthquake magnitudes from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program.

Houses and short buildings shake differently than tall buildings.

A Science for Everyone article: Can a deep-learning approach perform better than NEIC?s traditional methods to get more accurate earthquake locations and magnitudes? The NEIC monitoring system is a perfect candidate for deep learning because it processes large amounts of data.

An interactive geonarrative (Esri story map) about the four Intermountain West earthquakes. Learn more about these quakes and the historic earthquakes in this part of the western U.S. This immersive experience (best viewed on a computer) includes maps, photos from the field and links to journal papers, earthquake event pages, data and more.

cut a large world map into puzzle pieces along plate boundaries, students discuss individually land then for the whole map after the class puts pieces together; simple but powerful, discussion Q/A included

An ArcGIS geonarrative storymap explaining the impacts of sea-level rise on liquefaction severity around the San Francisco Bay Area, California for the magnitude 7.0 ?HayWired? earthquake scenario along the Hayward Fault.

music and earthquakes have something in common!

A Science for Everyone article: If you want to listen to the softest whispers of the Earth, the South Pole is where you want to be. Seismic station, QSPA has been allowing us to eavesdrop on the Earth for over six decades, and it may soon gain the equivalent of hearing aids.

A large shallow earthquake moves Mt. Everest 3 cm southwest.

classroom lesson to teach the difference between earthquake magnitude and earthquake intensities (8.3MB PDF)

A description of the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale.

(17MB PDF)

A collection of information about the region, the historical seismicity, and the hazards.

A plain-language summary of new paleoseismology methods for studying and dating past earthquakes from trench data.

How paleoseismology is revealing information about the Hayward fault and its past. New technology being used. Photos from the Tule Pond trench on the Hayward fault.

What is paleoseismology? How does it work?

excellent presentation with vivid graphics

A project to scan a small selection of the film chips of historical earthquake recordings to digital files was started in 1996. In addition to archiving historic data from the early years, the USGS has also worked to archive photos and descriptions of early seismometers.

in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean

Earthquakes and preparedeness for everyone in California (regional booklets available), Utah, Central U.S., Nevada, Oregon, and Alaska

list of books

overview of the San Andreas Fault, online USGS general interest publication

Online lesson plans with photos and images. Excellent geologic activities you can do anywhere! Education standards info included.

specific projects with directions and ideas

brief and basic earthquake science concepts

Three-dimensional, cut-and-paste paper model illustrating sea-floor spreading and subduction.

Description and history of seismic seiches.

Poster-sized map illustrating 119 years of global seismicity in the context of global plate tectonics and the Earth?s physiography. Primarily designed for use by earth scientists, engineers, and educators, this map provides a comprehensive overview of strong (magnitude [M] 5.5 and larger) earthquakes since 1900.

brief description on how seismographs work to locate earthquakes

How seismologists can use noise to see under the ground.

measuring earthquakes, online USGS general interest publication

This video presents a visualization of how the Atwood Building in Anchorage, Alaska, shook during the M7.1 January 24, 2016, Iniskin, Alaska, earthquake. The building was instrumented by U.S. Geological Survey to obtain data to study its behavior and performance during strong shaking. Such data is useful to make decisions for improving the building's performance.

This video presents a visualization of shaking that was recorded in the Frontier Building in Anchorage, Alaska, during the Mw7.1 earthquake, January 24, 2016, Iniskin, Alaska.

How Can You Tell the Difference Between a Sonic Boom and an Earthquake on a Seismogram? Some Interesting Facts About Sonic Booms.

all things "earthquake" in southern California

A booklet that includes the "The Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety" - basic guidelines for what to do before, during, and after a damaging earthquake.

USGS Open-File Report 98-767 (online)

What is a splay fault, and how can they affect tsunamis?

An interactive geonarrative that explains the tectonic setting of Turkey, historical seismicity of Turkey from 1900, details on both the M 7.8 and M 7.5 earthquake sequences, kinematics of the earthquake rupture, remote sensing observations that show displacements across the active faults.

A Science for Everyone article: No one can predict earthquakes. But existing faults and past earthquakes give us information about future earthquakes, and geology tells us how the ground shakes during an earthquake.

A Science for Everyone article: One USGS scientist has sorted through the challenges, the claims, and the data to determine what the possibilities and limitations really are for EEW, and the results may surprise you.

A walk through the evolution of earthquake monitoring instruments.

An ArcGIS geo-narrative storymap with compelling images showing the effects and consequences possible in the next large earthquake on the Hayward Fault in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Information about past earthquakes and current monitoring efforts.

excellent comprehensive overview of plate tectonics with excellent graphics, online USGS general interest publication

World Map of Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Impact Craters, and Plate Tectonics

what happened today in earthquake history

Educational slides for the 2011 Tohoku,Japan M9.0 Earthquake.

travel time graph for seismic waves

How much bigger is a magnitude 8.7 earthquake than a magnitude 5.8 earthquake?

Science for Everyone article

summary of earthquake hazards in Hawaii

Interactive online trail guide to Wallace Creek site on the San Andreas Fault

Science for Everyone article

How will ShakeAlert® likely perform now on a large earthquake impacting a major urban area? How much warning will you get? To answer this, let?s do a thought experiment...

An ArcGIS geo-narrative storymap that describes what can be expected if there is a large earthquake in a populated urban area.