Answering Questions
- What is the frequency of earthquakes on each continent, sorted in descending order?
- In which month do the deepest earthquakes typically occur?
- Which locations (specified by city and country) have experienced earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6 that triggered tsunamis?
- How has the frequency of severe earthquakes (magnitude > 7) changed over the last decade?
Utilizing the Explore Mode in the web app, I ranked the frequency of severe earthquakes by continent. The order is presented below. I have also provided screenshots of the locations of these earthquakes for Asia and Oceania.
- Asia (101 Earthquakes)
- Oceania (85 Earthquakes)
- North America (36 Earthquakes)
- South America (32 Earthquakes)
- Europe (10 Earthquakes)
- Antarctica (5 Earthquakes)
- Africa (1 Earthquake)
From the screenshot, many of the earthquakes in Asia occur in Indonesia, Phillipines, and Japan. Many of the earthquakes in Oceania occur in the island chain off the coast of Papua New Guinea.
Utilizing the Explore Mode in the web app, I answered a slight variation of question 2, looking for the month in which the most severe earthquakes occured. For my analysis, I looked at Asia and Oceania, since these two regions have the most severe earthquakes. From the results, the number of severe earthquakes are the highest in September in Asia and Oceania with 13 and 10 severe earthquakes reported, respectively. Below, I have provided the exact locations of the earthquakes to add geographic context.
To determine locations that have experienced earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6 that triggered tsunamis, we can use the web app in Click Mode. This interactive feature allows users to click anywhere on the map. After clicking on a particular location, markers will appear showing the earthquakes. Blue markers represent earthquakes that triggered tsunamis. Red appears otherwise. Below, I have attached screenshots showing such earthquakes in North America.
For gaining insight into how the frequency of severe earthquakes have changed over the last decade, I examined Asia and the years 2010, 2015, and 2020 as case studies. I have shown the results in the format of screenshots below.
From these images, there seems to be less earthquakes in Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia over the last decade. There seems to also have been a rise in tsunami-triggering events. However, more data will need to be collected to verify these trends.
Below is the breakdown of frequency of severe earthquakes for 2010, 2015, and 2020.
- 2010: 8 severe earthquakes
- 2015: 6 severe earthquakes
- 2020: 0 severe earthquakes
Decomposing the earthquake dataset into multiple tables allowed for better categorization and understanding of earthquake events. This structure paints a clearer spatial picture of earthquake locations and highlights trends in their occurrences. Key regions of high seismic activity are now more evident, providing insights into areas that are vulnerable to significant earthquakes. Additionally, the markers pinpointing earthquake sites help in identifying the boundaries of potential seismic hotspots.