Earthquakes are a natural phenomenon that occurs along fault planes within the Earth's crust. It is a result of the release of energy due to the accumulated amounts of strain between two fault lines. These energy released from these faults are due to several movements from plate boundaries. These movements can either be subduction, convergent or divergent. The primary focus of this analysis will be located at the Northwestern boarder of the Pacific Ring of Fire. This region is particularly active because it is situated between multiple plates: the Pacific Plate, the Filipino Plate and the North American Plate. Although sometimes negligible, earthquakes are recorded everyday in this region due to the convergent zone of the Filipino Plate and the North American Plate.
This is an interesting area of study due to the frequency of earthquakes on a daily basis. Japan, being so close to the epicenters of majority of the earthquakes located within the area, is highly affected by the shockwaves and aftershocks. Patterns and trends of minor earthquakes, as well as their positions, can lead us to estimate when a major disaster can occur. In addition, it can also provide information to the Japanese Government the potential hazards of a major earthquake event, a tsunami for example.
The objective of this analysis is to chart out potential areas with an increased rate of earthquake activity within a time period of one month. We see later in the analysis that majority of the earthquakes have magnitudes of x<5. However, variations in the magnitudes are not uncommon. This analysis will look for patterns of occurance of higher magnitude earthquakes. Taking the data collected within one months time, a map of Japan was created to display all the occurances of earthquakes during the time frame and their corresponding magnitudes. From there we can determine clusters of earthquakes and determine regions of intense earthquake activity.
Figure 1. http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Gif/PlateTectonics/Maps/map_plate_tectonics_world.gif