The Cascadia Mega-Earthquake and Tsunami case study presents a scenario of discovery by unraveling a sequence of scientific periods of understanding about the earthquake hazard in the Pacific Northwest and how it changed over the past 25 years. The Cascadia subduction zone is one of the quietest on Earth, having no great earthquakes in written history. Yet, the geology tells a different story, one of hugely catastrophic earthquakes and accompanying tsunami occuring regularly over the last few thousand years. Why is it so seismically quiet and yet so tremendously deadly when it ruptures? These and other questions are explored in this case study.
The case study is designed for undergraduate geoscience majors taking an advanced geology or hazards course. It is designed for two full lab periods or a mix of homework time and one lab period to complete, depending on how and when it is used in a course. It could also be used as a semester project, with the students exploring pieces of the case study over the course of the semester or as a wrap up to the semester.
The case study documents contain the minimal instructions for the user, as all of our first round field testers have expertise with the MyWorld software or some other GIS application. After we get feedback from reviewers and revise the content accordingly, the instructions will be fleshed out in ways similar to our other SAGUARO project case studies.
Looking for New Field Testers
The case study will be ready for technical and expert review in Summer 08, although you can download it now for early exploration. Contact us if you are interested in reviewing or testing this case study.
>> We would like you to use the peer review criteria we have been implementing as part of the DLESE Panel Review Process. These can be found at http://www.dlese-project.org/review_criteria.html.
>> If you chose to do a formal review, we encourage you to report all bugs or other technical difficulties, scientific errors or pedagogical challenges. Please, let us know how it worked for you.
>> We are interested on your thoughts on whether the length, breadth and depth are appropriate for the target audience. We also want to hear about any technical issues you may find.
Items to download
Cascadia Annotated Case Study Outline
Cascadia Case Study Draft2
A PDF file containing the investigation.
Project files (Under development)
Sumatra.zip
Worldview.zip
Cascadia.zip
Seattle.zip
Seaside.zip
MyWorld GIS Trial Version
Download a 45 day Free Trial of MyWorld GIS
To Begin Your Review
Open and print, as desired, the Cascadia Case Study document.
Install the MyWorld software on your computer.
Install the project files in the data folder within the MyWorld application folder on your computer.
Launch MyWorld software on your computer and begin your investigation.
Science Education Solutions is grateful for the generous funding from the National Science Foundation for this project under Grant No. 0521936. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this website or the resources created and disseminated by SES are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.