Educational Earthquake Visualization

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Despite the important role that earthquakes and seismology play in the Earth sciences, there has been up until now no good way to visualize the process by which an earthquake generates waves that propagate throughout the Earth. These seismic waves are important because they cause destruction in many parts of the world, are used to determine the location and size of the earthquakes, and are the means by which geologists have mapped out the interior of the Earth. Without a way to visualize the process of seismic waves spreading throughout the Earth after an earthquake, it has been very hard to explain this phenomenon and for students to understand it. The difficultly lies in the fact that the production of such an animation requires advanced geophysical algorithms, high-speed computational capabilities, and a strong dedication to use these research capabilities for an educational purpose. This project meets this need by producing a computer-graphics color animation that accurately represents the propagation of seismic waves from an earthquake, available to educators in both VHS-video and computer formats. The project is based on a prototype of such a video-animation recently made by the PI. The production of a realistic visualization of earthquake wave propagation through the Earth is computation ally intensive. The prototype took 5 months of computation on a Sun Sparcstation 10/41. The animation will not only give viewers an intuitive feel for the internal structure and layering of our planet, but also teach the principle of wave physics applied to the Earth, showing waves reflecting, refracting, and diffracting along the different layers within our planet. The computer animation will be narrated, presenting an educational discussion of earthquakes, their destructive capabilities, their relation to plate tectonics, and their role in mapping the details of the interior of the Earth.