This site provides a brief history of both scientific and popular beliefs and knowledge of seismology; from ancient theories to 1910. Full description.

The Significant Earthquake Database is a global digital database containing information on more than 5,000 destructive earthquakes from 2150 B.C. to the present. Users can access these data in two different ways: via a two-volume CD collection, or on-line. Users searching on-line can query the database via the following parameters: the year of the event, geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude), ... Full description.

In this activity, students create their own P- and S-wave travel chart and develop a better understanding of the relationship between the two wave types, travel times, and travel distances. Full description.

This easily built classroom apparatus is ideal for gaining a better understanding of how earthquakes work and how they are recorded. The apparatus consists of a heavy object that is dragged steadily with an elastic cord. Although pulled with a constant velocity, the heavy object repeatedly slides and then stops. A small vibration sensor, attached to a computer display, graphically monitors this motion, ... Full description.

Data collected by a new seismic observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station indicate that it is the quietest listening post on the planet for observing shudders produced by earthquakes around the world as they vibrate through the Earth. The South Pole Remote Earth Science Observatory (SPRESO) is located eight kilometers (five miles) from the South Pole and the new seismometers were installed ... Full description.

In this activity students learn about Earth's magnetic reversals by reading two fiction stories and a scientific summary of past reversals, including graphical information. This will help students discriminate between factual and fictional descriptions of a natural phenomenon, which has been scientifically studied from the fossil and geologic record of Earth, and found to be a lot less frightening ... Full description.

This demonstration uses a gyroscope (a bicycle wheel works well), string, and a turntable (optional) to show how the equatorial bulge of Earth causes precession. By balancing the spinning bicycle wheel on one hand, and pulling a string attached to the top axle with the other, the axis of the wheel traces out a circle (precesses). The site also explains how the moment of inertia is related to torque ... Full description.

This tutorial provides information on the four types of wave motion seen in earthquakes (S, P, Love, and Rayleigh waves). A table accompanied by text describes their particle motion, typical veolcity, and other characteristics. The four animations show a rectangular block of material with outlined with grid lines and a filled-in grid square to highlight the particle motion and direction of propagation. ... Full description.

In this activity, students examine a seismogram display called a seismic record section in which each trace is a seismogram recorded at a specific seismograph station. The seismograms are plotted according to the distance (in degrees, geocentric angle) from the earthquake location and time from the earthquake origin. The traces are of the vertical component of ground motion, and have been filtered ... Full description.

This set of animations, accompanied by an audio narrative, shows the four types of wave motion seen in an earthquake: P waves, S waves, Love waves, and Rayleigh waves. A brief written narrative and a set of study questions are also included. Full description.