Data was first aquired through the IRIS Seismic Moniter. As earthquakes occur in a specific region of interest, they are recorded. The data I required were the coordinates (latitude and longitude) and the corresponding magnitudes to each event.
After acquiring the information I needed to start the analysis, the data needed to be plotted out into a shape file; ArcMap was used to plot the coordinates into a shapefile.
The analysis was done in IDRISI and the shapefile was to be converted into raster data. Using the INITIAL module, a blank image was created. The X and Y coordinates were set to display the entire study area of Japan using the LATLONG reference system.
The next step was using POINTRAS and POLYRAS to display both files as raster data. POINTRAS was used to display my coordinates as raster dataset and POLYRAS was used to display the background image of Japan was a raster.
The PATTERN module was used to determine any clusters in the occurance of earthquakes. The 48 classes that are to be displayed represents the number of earthquake events within the study period.
To measure the pattern of earthquakes, relative richness was chosen. This option allowed for the quantification of clustered earthquakes within the area.
A buffer zone was last added to demonstrate the area of effect of the shock of an earthquake.
