Module IV: I Feel the the Earth Move!
Explain:
I never felt the earth move until I came to Alaska. It was a shocking and thrilling experience. The P waves and then … wait for it ……the S waves… AWESOME!
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| Carole King could feel the earth move. |
A little bit different than the earth moving that Carole King was experiencing back in ’71, but with almost equally exhilarating emotions. I was sitting at my desk a few weeks ago and I heard the suspended ceiling above me rumble and felt a light wiggle in the room. At first I thought the math teacher above me was really getting after those math exercises after school, but what I didn’t realize was that that light shake and shimmy were the P waves moving out ahead of the S-waves which rocked me in my desk chair! It was amazing. I was very impressed that the earth had such power in a relatively small earth quake!
Learning about the All Saints Day Earthquake in 1755 when people began to take an informed look at the different types of energies expelled during an earthquake helped me to identify the movement that I felt during the small quake I had experienced.
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| The chaos surrounding the 1755 All Saints Day Quake in Lisbon must have been apocalyptic. |
The most interesting thing that I learned from this module was from the TD video about Tectonic Plate Movement in Alaska. Seeing the massive amounts of rock in real life and then on video is rather amazing. Maybe more impressive is that the effects of the Katmai Earthquake are still being realized and observed today. What an excellent example of the duplicity of the intricacies and enormity of the earth’s tectonics right here in Alaska!
Extend:
I will be able to use this knowledge about tectonics and subduction in the unit I teach about India. The Himalayas had a huge effect on the Harappan civilization and other cultures that developed in the Indus valley.
During my next unit I will point out that tectonic activity is wide spread in Israel and the rest of the Middle East as we take a look at the Hebrews and their history. Earth quakes have a rather colorful history in Jewish writings and have often been viewed as God’s wrath being delivered to the evildoers of the day. As well as an aid to the Israelites as the traveled to the Promise Land.
Evaluate:
I love reviewing this kind of stuff! These are the forces that shape our world and make it change. Causing civilizations to adapt and attempt to explain the world around them while they overcome present challenges only to face new ones! Its no wonder the Tlingit have a story of a great frog that lives at the head of Lituya Bay that ribbits and causes such destructive waves!
Thousands of years ago as well as today, land that moved up and down and side to side with such force and suddenness demands an explanation. Looking at the earth moving on a smaller scale may be an easier way to understand parts of these forces. Things like slump, creep and slide, which happen as a result of gravity moving the earth, are another way to view the earth changing. Even with a different engine running the process we can see ground around us changing before our eyes- thankfully over a shorter period of time and not as violently.
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| Slump: Land moves down hill leaving a scarp. |
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| Creep: Soil moves very slowly downhill. |
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| Conchita, CA. landslide |
To observe, measure and explain the changes around us is a spectacular accomplishment. Its amazing that we can incorporate native and western understandings regarding these events to better realize how they effect people in an instant and for generations to come.
Comments:
First, I commented on Eric Ellefson’s blog about his story of Napier, New Zealand and how it was quite interesting that many native traditions are quite similar.
Second, I commented on Janet Reed's blog and thanked her for sharing some awesome personal photos and a story about the native village of Chenega that was destroyed by the Katmai Quake.
Finally, I commented on Alaska Knowledge. He posted some sweet graphs that helped me understand how seismic waves move through the earth!
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