This demonstration of plate tectonic principles, plate boundary interactions, and the geometry and relative motions of faulting of geologic layers uses 3-D foam models. The models aid in visualization and understanding of plate motions and faulting because they are three-dimensional, concrete rather than abstract descriptions or diagrams, can be manipulated by the instructor and the students, and ... Full description.

This site shows how to make paper models representing simple faults and illustrating some of the landforms associated with faulting of the Earth's crust. Full description.

This website provides an overview of the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) project, an initiative to drill into the fault in one of its most predictively active segments near Parkfield, California. Information accessible at the site includes a discussion of drilling methods, an introduction to the structure of the fault zone as it appears at Parkfield, and a discussion of earthquake prediction. ... Full description.

The Alaska Earthquake Information Center contains information on seismology and tsunami research, education and outreach projects, and earthquake preparedness. There are also maps, reports, and a database on recent earthquakes and a map of historical Alaskan earthquakes, active faults, and rupture zones. Full description.

Some faults experience appreciable amounts of dip slip and strike slip simultaneously, and the nomenclature of these faults reflects this. This is an exercise regarding the nomenclature of faults that experience appreciable amounts of dip slip and strike slip simultaneously. In this activity, learners view animations of these faults and attempt to correctly interpret the sense of motion. Clicking ... Full description.

This downloadable compilation of articles was originally published as a series of weekly features in The San Francisco Chronicle. They present some of the new understanding gained and scientific advances made in the century since the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Topics include lessons learned from the 1906 earthquake, the uses of seismograms, recognizing active faults, investigating faults ... Full description.

This activity consists of four exercises that deal with the partitioning of slip within scenarios involving two or more faults. The first three are hypothetical situations; the last activity focuses on the plate boundary in southern California. Full description.

This booklet features a collection of articles originally published for teachers by the San Francisco Chronicle. It presents some of the new understanding gained and scientific advances made in the century since the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Topics include lessons learned from the 1906 earthquake, the use of seismograms, recognizing active faults, and the use of trenches to investigate ... Full description.

In this activity, students create paper models to represent simple faults and illustrate some of the landforms associated with faulting of the Earth's crust. To make the models more realistic, some of the fault scarps are cut by gullies and are eroded in ways indicative of an arid landscape. All of the paper models show displacement on the fault by the use of arrows and by the offset of a marker bed ... Full description.

When plate tectonics causes part of the Earth's crust to compress, as in a zone of collision, or to extend, as in a zone of rifting, faults must form to help accomplish this task. While the deeper layers of rock, due to extreme heat and pressure, can fairly easily deform to accommodate the stretching of rifting or the compression of collision, the brittle rock of the uppermost crust must break and ... Full description.