Team: 35
School: St. Thomas Aquinas
Area of Science: Earth and Space Sciences
Interim: The tectonic plates are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction.Conditions for an earthquake also include enough elastic energy to cause fracture enlargement or extension. Multiple earthquake models, such as the Global Earthquake Model (GEM), calculate earthquake risk. This project's purpose is to do something similar and calculate how the earthquake can affect the surrounding area, taking multiple variables into account. Created in Netlogo, this model will be programmed to allow a user to change variables such as the type of fault and magnitude of an earthquake. Tectonic forces sometimes cause rock on either side of a fault to deform. https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-earthquake-and-what-causes-them-happen
An earthquake, any sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through Earth’s rocks. Seismic waves are produced when some form of energy stored in Earth’s crust is suddenly released, usually when masses of rock straining against one another suddenly fracture and “slip.â€
https://www.britannica.com/science/earthquake-geology
Earthquakes are usually caused when underground rock suddenly breaks and there is rapid motion along a fault. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. During and after the earthquake, the plates, or huge pieces of rock, start moving—and they continue to move until they get stuck again. The point underground where the rock first breaks is called the focus, or hypocenter, of the earthquake. The place right above the focus at the surface is called the epicenter. https://www.mtu.edu/geo/community/seismology/learn/earthquake-cause/
So far, this project has an epicenter that turns all the houses that it touches a certain color, which signifies that the structure has collapsed or been affected. What I hope to do next is to alter the code so that there can be multiple shocks, which affect the structures on varying levels, and add health to the structures. When done, this model can help with representing how an earthquake can cause distress to surrounding structures.
Mentor - Eric Vigil
Team Members:
Sponsoring Teacher: Eric Vigil