Seismologists use data about the location of earthquakes to identify plate boundaries around the world.

1. Click on the Map link below. The link will open in a new tab.
2. On the right side of the screen make sure that Earthquakes is set for "1 Day, All Magnitudes U.S." (when you are done, clicking the gear icon will close that window so you can see the map better.) Make sure "Zoom to..." is set to "World."
3. On the Map Below, right click, or control click on the little box in the top right hand corner. Choose "open link in incognito window."
4. Choose Open in Google Drawings.
5. Go to File and choose "Make a Copy..." Rename the file with your period number, Earthquakes, and Your last name(s.) Share the document with your teacher as well as any partners.
6. Go back to the USGS Earthquake website and look at the list of earthquakes on the left side. Click on the first listed earthquake and locate it on the map (It will highlight in blue.) Notice the Richter and Mercalli (if present) ratings.
7. Go back to the Google Drawings. Choose Insert; Shapes; Callouts; Star (☆). Place the star on the map as close as you can to where the first earthquake is located. This is called plotting the earthquake.
8. Go back to the Earthquake site and look at the next earthquake on the list. Repeat the previous step. This time, if the magnitude of the earthquake is larger or smaller, make the star larger or smaller accordingly.
9. Complete this for at least 10 earthquakes. Skip down the list and choose earthquakes that have occurred in different places (for example, do not plot two from Alaska, etc.)
10. Return to this map once a week until the end of the unit to see where earthquakes are happening around the world.