Buildings may topple in large earthquakes near a fault line.
Because earthquakes can't be predicted, the only line of defense against this act of nature is preparedness. Knowing how close you are to a fault line may be beneficial when you do prepare for earthquakes. The United States Geological Survey maps out fault lines on a regular map, giving users the ability to see how far they are from fault lines. USGS also provides maps with real-time earthquake results including how big specific earthquakes are.
Instructions
1. Use the United States Geological Survey map in the Resources section. This interactive map allows the user to zoom to where he lives and map out where the fault line is in comparison.
2. Center the map by clicking on it with the left mouse button. Hold the button down and drag the map to roughly over to where you live. For example, if you live in Los Angeles, center Los Angeles in the map screen and zoom close.
3. Click the "+" symbol at the left side of the screen to zoom closer into the map. Continue to center the map as you zoom closer in.
4. Continue until you find where you live on the map. Take note of any fault lines around. Fault lines are depicted with a series of colors depending on how old the fault line is. These colors are located on the right side of the screen.
5. Use the measurement tool at the top left of the map screen, which will give you the scale and mile distance. Take a ruler and match it up to the measurement tool on top. For example, zooming almost all the way in gives you a 2 mile scale, which is a 1/2-inch measurement with the ruler. So for every 1/2-inch, the map is scaled to two miles.
6. Measure the distance from your city to the nearest fault line. For example, if you were measuring for every 1/2-inch which equals two miles, start the ruler at the city and measure out to the nearest fault line. So, Los Angeles is one inch from the nearest fault line, or four miles.
7. Refer to how old the fault line is by looking at the graph on the right side. In the example above, the closest fault line is orange, or between 15,000 and 130,000 years old.
Tags: fault line, fault line, nearest fault, nearest fault line, every 2-inch, fault lines
