Shaking Things Up: 10 Resources for Exploring Earthquakes

Does the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake trigger a landslide of questions from your students about why earthquakes happen, what faults are, or if scientists can predict quakes?  Explore the science of earthquakes, from the Bay Area and beyond, with the following resources.

Educator Guide: Exploring Earthquakes
This robust guide is part of Exploring Earthquakes, a rich collection of resources co-presented by the California Academy of Sciences and KQED. This material is also available as a free iBooks textbook and iTunes U course.

Earthquake Explainer
This media-rich collection includes videos, animations, infographics, quizzes, interviews and other assets that focus on earthquakes in a concise and easy-to-understand presentation.

Earthquake E-book
Learn about earthquakes through video, animations, interactive graphics and a quiz. It is also the digital textbook for the Earthquake iTunes U course.

Megathrust Earthquakes
In this video, find an explanation of megathrust, shallow crust, deep crust and slow slip earthquakes and learn about the impact of a megathrust earthquake along the Cascadia fault. Also learn how scientists are studying the past to help predict future earthquakes.

Earthquakes: Breaking New Ground
In this video, find diagrams of plate tectonics and look at the SAFOD earthquake study in Parkfield. Also find information about the ELARMS earthquake alarm system and how it might help people in earthquake-prone areas.

Dynamic Earth
In this interactive from Annenberg Learner, delve into the structure of the Earth to learn what causes earthquakes, volcanoes, and more.

Forecasting Earthquakes
Find out how researchers are improving earthquake forecasts in this video from NOVA scienceNOW: “What’s the Next Big Thing?” Correspondent Kirk Wolfinger meets with geophysicist Ernest Majer, who demonstrates how his team measures seismic signals that could serve as a possible warning sign for earthquakes. A computer simulation illustrates how tremors would propagate from the San Andreas fault across Southern California, showing which communities are most at risk.

The Hayward Fault: A Tectonic Timebomb
In this audio report, learn about the active faults in California. Explore why the Hayward Fault is a tectonic timebomb that has geologists particularly worried.

The Shaking Table at UC Berkeley
Engineers can’t wait around for the next big one to hit. So, they use a huge platform to simulate an earthquake.

Living With Earthquakes
Students will use some of the modern principles and ideas found in architectural design to create unique structures capable of withstanding the simulated forces of an earthquake.