Plate Tectonics Project Blog 3/30/18

Summary:
     
       This week in science we completed our Plate Tectonic Projects. What we had to do for this project is choose what our presentation was going to be about (I chose to do mine on earthquakes and fault lines in Northern California) then create a written report and 3 minute ignite presentation on active fault lines in Northern California. What I learned through doing this project is all about active fault lines, and more specifically in Northern California. What I now know about faults in general is what a fault is, what an active fault is, why an active fault is a hazard, how to prepare for an active fault, and more. What I now know about faults in Northern California is the most dangerous faults in Northern California, the history of faults in Northern California, why Northern California has earthquakes and faults, and more.. A fault is a fracture in the earth's crust that is created through a transform boundary where earthquakes occur. An active fault is a fault that has moved in the past 120,000 years and can still produce earthquakes. An active fault is a hazard because active faults can produce earthquakes which can destroy whole cities just as the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 did. The reason Northern California can produce earthquakes and has faults in the first place is because of the fact that Northern California is on a transform plate boundary which is what creates faults and earthquakes. The two main faults in Northern California are the Hayward Fault and the San Andreas Fault. The Hayward Fault is about 74 miles long in length and has caused $350,000 dollars worth of damage in San Francisco alone. Even though the Hayward Fault isn't one of the biggest faults in the world, it is one of the strongest and can create high magnitude earthquakes. The San Andreas Fault is one of the largest faults in the world and stretches for about 750 miles. This fault has created several devastating earthquakes many in San Francisco. One interesting fact about the San Andreas Fault is that it produces 6.0 magnitude earthquakes or higher around every 22 years! There have been many earthquakes that have occured in Northern California. Earthquakes such as the 1868 Hayward Earthquake on the Hayward Fault, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, the 1952 Kern County Earthquake on the White Wolf Fault, the 1992 Landers Earthquake on the Landers Fault, and many more. There are 6 recommendations we have for buildings near an active fault. The first recommendation we have is to tie the walls, floor, roof, and foundations into a rigid box that holds together when shaken by a quake. You should also not use unreinforced masonry because those materials are the least protective against an earthquake. Be sure to bolt or strap shelves and heavy objects to walls or sturdy parts of the building to prevent them falling in an earthquake. Make sure that you use a protective film on windows, and any glass doors to prevent shattering. To ensure that your whole life doesn't completely get destroyed, you should also earthquake insurance. Lastly, if an earthquake does happen to hit, have an AID kit ready just in case, the AID kit should consist of water, food, bandages, money, and any other things that you would need after and earthquake. This AID could be the thing that keeps you alive after an earthquake, so just make sure that you always have an AID kit nearby just in case of emergency.

Backward-Looking:

       What I knew about the project before it started were what a transform boundary was, a bit about the San Andreas Fault is, certain earthquakes that have occured in Northern California, and how to create an ignite presentation. A transform boundary is a boundary between two plates where two plates slide past each other creating an earthquake. What I knew about the San Andreas Fault is that it is in the bay area and I can see it at Mission San Juan Bautista. The earthquakes that I knew that occured in Northern California are the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the 1989 earthquake that hit during the World Series, and the earthquake that hit fairly recently in Napa (2014 Loma Prieta Earthquake although before the project I did not know the year or the name of the earthquake). An ignite presentation is a presentation with very little text or no text at all that moves on its own and composed of a series of images. An ignite presentation should be almost completely memorized meaning that you should very rarely look down at your note card. The process I went through when doing this project was a 3 step process. We first researched, then used that research to create our written report, then created our ignite presentation. I have done similar work like this in the past due to the fact that I have created and presented several different ignite presentations.
     
Inward-Looking:

       I feel pretty good about my project. This is because we followed the rubric and have everything that our project is supposed to have. The parts of this project that I like are the images chosen for our ignite and written report. I liked this because many people today are visual learners and when I can truly create nice visuals for people, it really makes me happy. Also because the one of the most important parts of an ignite presentation are the images that you choose to show. I personally feel that we chose pretty good images which is really helpful in making an ignite. The parts of the project I dislike is the fact that we have no information on how to you should prepare your service lines as well for an earthquake. The part of the project I enjoy is the fact that our project is very relatable. This is because my I live in Northern California and so does everyone who goes to my school. My project is on Northern California which will make my project easier for people to get and understand. I also enjoy this because Northern California is my home, it is where I live and I like to know and learn about where I live which is why I enjoy this part of the project. What was especially satisfying through the process of doing this project was when we finally finished finding our images for the ignite presentation. The two hardest parts of an ignite presentation is figuring out what you are going to say with the limited amount of time you have and the images you are going to show. Finding images was very difficult for us to do and once we finally found the right images for our presentation we were so relieved and happy.

Outward-Looking:

       Through this project I did and did not work the way that other people did their projects. I did my project similar to others by in written report by doing research first then using that research to complete our final product. I did it differently than others because in my written report I had images as well, whereas some people did not add images to their written report. If I were the teacher the comments I would make about our piece are that we followed directions but did not go completely beyond expectations. Usually for most projects I tend to go beyond expectations and in the rubric one of the requirements to get 100% is to go beyond expectations. I would also mention that one of the images on our ignite presentation isn't the clearest and does not have great resolution but it is still eligible (seeable). The grade I would give my project is an A- or a B+. This is because as I mentioned before we followed the directions, but we did not go beyond expectations. One thing I want people to particularly notice when they look at my work is that it is about where I live. It is specific to me and my class on where we live.
 
Forward-Looking:

       One thing I would like to improve upon is going beyond expectations and beyond what we were supposed to do to make my project better and make my grade better. I will make sure that the quality of my images is better and that I have more recommendations for buildings near an active fault. Recommendations that aren't just about the building in general but recommendations about service lines as well. I would provide more and extra information in our written report so that I can spread and show more knowledge on the subject/topic. I would provide sources for the websites we used and where we got our information from. Also, instead of just listing out the history of faults in Northern California, I would create a mini infographic instead to make our timeline more visual and easier to understand and grasp all of the information. In the infographic I would also provide images of the damage of all the different earthquakes we listed. Basically I would just make our project go above and beyond to make it extraordinary and much better than it is now.