Benchmark: SC.912.E.6.3: Analyze the scientific theory of plate tectonics and identify related major processes and features as a result of moving plates.

Essential Question: How do features on the Earth help us know about the geologic past?

Instructions:

Click on the launch interactive link. Use the website to allow students to come up with connections about seismic measurements and what they determine. Students can move the mouse over the picture of "'Find the Fault". Click on the highlighted sections to find out information about each geologic feature.

Suggested questions for students:

1. What does the vertical axis represent?
2. What does the horizontal axis represent?
3. How did geophysicists collect the data?
4. Why does the fault line located in Tennessee/Kentucky region create about 200 earthquakes per year when it is over 1,000 miles from the nearest tectonic plate boundary?
5. Why does this relatively flat region host earthquakes?