Listen to Earthquakes

[music plays throughout]
Listen to Earthquakes
Seismometers record vibrations from a wide
assortment of ground motion events.
[helicopter sound]
Helicopter landing near station
[sound of footsteps walking]
People walking near station
Eact event type has a distinctive ground-motion signal
with unique frequency and amplitude
—it's own seismic signature.
[slide] Continuous tremor: continuous movements of fluids or gases.
[slide] Short-period earthquake: slip on a fault or rock breakage.
Seismologists are trained to identify the source
of seismic events seen on a webicorder
based on its 'seismic signature'.
[slide] Showing VALT EHZ CC webicorder plot of earthquake, helicopter, and wind.
Although most ground vibrations have a frequency too low
for human hearing, we can speed up the signal
and make it audible.
Listen to the sound of an earthquake and match it
with the event that created it using the spectrogram/seismogram to help.
Ready?
Go!
?
Again?
?
[4 images with countdown clock of 5 seconds]
[3 images blur out revealing Mount Rainer Rockfall]
Ready?
Go!
?
Again?
?
[4 images with countdown clock of 5 seconds]
[3 images blur revealing Mount St. Helens image]
Ready?
Go!
?
Again?
?
[4 images appear with 5-second countdown]
[3 images blur out revealing Nisqually Earthquake: 2001 Nisqually earthquake recorded in Sequim, WA]
Ready?
Go!
Again?
?
Too easy?
[4 images appear with 5-second countdown]
[3 images blur to reveal Mount Redoubt Scream: 2009 Redoubt eruption, gliding tremor and explosion]
Good job!
Sound files by Kate Allstadt and Alicia Hovotec
Sound file Redoubt from Kilb, D., Peng, Z., Simpson, D.,
Michael, A., Fisher, M., Rohrlick, D., 2012, Listen, Watch, Learn: SeisSound Video Products:
Seismological Research Letters
Music "Inspiring Corporate" by Scott Holmes (freemusicarchive.org)
Video by Liz Westby, 2017

Listen to Earthquakes

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