Education and Field Research

The proposed programs and activities will be primarily field studies focusing on the biodiversity and geology surrounding the San Andreas Fault and the Whitewater River. The field/scientific studies will also encompass the study of birds, mammals, fish, insects, reptiles, amphibians and vegetation within adjacent areas to the tectonic plates – North American & Pacific

With kind permission from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences
With special thanks to Keegan Sawyer, Director

Each field study will be conducted and led by experts within each scientific discipline.

Students will study:

  1. Fault vegetation, groundwater interactions, and above mentioned wildlife.
  2. Fractures and vein fillings in metamorphic rocks on the main fault to determine stresses during their formation.
  3. Minerals in hydrothermally altered rocks.
  4. Fault movement both horizontal and vertical within the transitional zone.
  5. Spectrum of rock types exposed, from sedimentary rocks to metamorphic and hydrothermally altered rocks.
  6. Stream processes and debris flows to determine a record of big storm events.
  7. Detailed mapping of sedimentary deposits on the eastern wall of the canyon to resolve the change in fault movement from horizontal to vertical displacement in White Water Canyon.
  8. Vegetation change on the canyon floor along with groundwater flow disruption and the juxtaposition of completely different rock types along a laterally traceable boundary coincident with the vegetation zone.

PHASE II RESEARCH –
Predicting and Measuring Earthquakes

With the installation of Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) recording stations and Seismometers, both in Whitewater, Southern California, and Fukushima, Japan – we will monitor in ‘real time’ via satellite up-links the actual movement of the Pacific Tectonic Plate on the east and west sides, as well as monitoring associated climatic conditions of the Earth together with rising sea levels, and the potential for Earthquakes and Tsunamis.

Application of Seismometers in the Measurement of Earthquakes

By Kal Kaur

What is an Earthquake?

Earthquake activity is unpredictable and can have a devastating impact on the countries affected. The Earth’s surface is made up of continental tectonic plates. These plates move in a horizontal and vertical pattern. A break along a fault in the plate boundaries under the Earth’s surface forces the two tectonic plates to rub together. Friction generated by this contact releases a burst of energy causing a seismic wave that manifest as an earthquake.

The earthquake will start at the hypocenter (the region below the Earth’s crust) and escalate to the surface of the Earth called the epicenter (Figure 1). The plate boundaries become trapped at a fault and so the energy that would normally be used to move apart the two tectonic plates ripples out from the fault towards the epicenter when there is a sudden shift in these plates, hence why we experience the earthquake.

Figure 1. Basic principle to earthquake formation. The earthquake rupture will occur at the hypocenter beneath the Earth’s surface. The shift in both plates creates a series of vibrations that generate seismic waves resulting in an earthquake.

Global statistics on the frequency of earthquakes

Based on estimations by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from observations since 1900 [1], there are an estimated 1,300,000 earthquakes that shock the earth each year, on average, and can be measured using a seismometer. The majority of earthquakes occur at the plate boundaries along the oceanic and continental tectonic plates where countries like Japan, Indonesia, Western USA, and New Zealand, often experience large earthquakes. An earthquake is measured on a Richter magnitude scale. This scale measures the amount of energy expelled by an earthquake and by applying seismology it’s possible to track the number of earthquakes occurring over an annual period (see Table 1).

Table 1. Number of earthquakes detected globally between the period of 2000 –2012. Statistics taken from the USGS National Earthquake Information Center.

Application for Seismometers in the study of earthquakes

The science of seismology is based on the idea of using a sensor to detect an earthquake and to measure the magnitude of an earthquake. Seismology also focuses on the effects of an earthquake, for example a tsunami. This sensor is made up of an inertial mass component that is mobile relative to the frame of the sensor held to the frame by a spring. This attachment helps to block out any movements once the motion of the sensor frame stabilizes. The aim is to record the motion of the mass relative to the frame of the sensor. The idea being that any motion from an external source will move this frame. By being able to measure the motion of the base relative to the mass, the whole transition is transformed into an electrical voltage that is then recorded on a magnetic tape. Therefore, by using this sensor, the movement of the ground can be measured (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Basic Seismometer