In this activity, students take on the roles of seismologists, vulcanologists and geographers, using maps to look for patterns in the worldwide distribution of earthquakes, volcanoes and topographic features.
By the end of this activity, students should:
- see patterns in the worldwide distribution of earthquakes, volcanoes and topographic features and develop an understanding of the idea of a dynamic Earth
- understand that New Zealand’s location on a plate boundary explains why the country has so many earthquakes and volcanoes
- be able to relate their findings to the positions of tectonic plates and their boundaries
- be able to predict where future earthquakes might occur, use the latitude and longitude co-ordinates to plot the locations of earthquakes, compare with existing patterns and explain any new observations
- understand that specialists collaborate to provide evidence to support their ideas.
Plate boundaries
There are three types of plate boundaries. They are each associated with different types of surface phenomena and are characterised by the way the plates move relative to each other. The different types are transform boundaries (which occur where plates slide past each other), divergent boundaries (which occur where two plates slide apart from each other) and convergent boundaries (where plates slide towards each other).
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
- introduction/background
- what you need
- what to do
- extension ideas
- part 1 – seismologist instructions
- part 1 – vulcanologist instructions
- part 1 – geographer instructions
- part 2 – specialists working together instructions
- world map for vulcanologists
- world map for seismologists
- world map for geographers
- world map showing main tectonic plates
- part 3 – predicting earthquakes.
Related content
Discover more about Plate tectonics, volcanoes and earthquakes.
Related activities
The teaching resource Earthquakes New Zealand features seven activities designed to help students develop an understanding about earthquakes in New Zealand, including why we get them and how we measure them. The three below are particularly relevant to this activity.
- Shaky New Zealand – students use maps to plot a graph of earthquakes under New Zealand to show the shape of the North Island subduction zone and compare this to the distribution of earthquakes in the South Island.
- Shaky New Zealand – students use maps to plot a graph of earthquakes under New Zealand to show the shape of the North Island subduction zone and compare this to the distribution of earthquakes in the South Island.
Useful links
Find information on earthquakes that have happened around the world in the last 30 days at http://ds.iris.edu/sm2/eventlist and see the world map of recent earthquakes at http://ds.iris.edu/sm2/index.phtml.
You can use the Academic Kids website to carry out research on plate tectonics.
Acknowledgement
This activity was developed for the Earthquake Commission (EQC), now known as the Natural Hazards Commission, and has been kindly provided for use on the Science Learning Hub.
Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake
Find out more about the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake at www.naturalhazards.govt.nz.
