Hi.

My name is Mr. Lawledge, and I'm very excited to be learning with you today.

We're going to have a great time.

Today's lesson is the location of major earthquake zones, and this is from our unit earthquakes, how do they change the world? Our learning is going to be challenging at times today, but I'm here to help and we can learn together.

Let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to describe and explain the location of major earthquake zones.

The key words we will be using today are tectonic plates, plate boundaries, and mantle.

The huge pieces that earth's crust is broken into are known as tectonic plates.

The point where two tectonic plates meet is known as a plate boundary.

The mantle is the layer between earth's outer core and crust.

It is the largest layer of earth and it is mostly semi-molten lava.

Our lesson today will be split into two parts.

The first part is, do earthquakes happen in the UK? And the second part is, where do earthquakes occur? So let's begin with our first section, do earthquakes happen in the UK? Tectonic plates are huge pieces of Earth's crust that fit together like a jigsaw.

Tectonic plates are constantly moving as they sit on top of Earth's moving mantle.

It is the movement of tectonic plates that causes earthquakes.

Remember, an earthquake is a sudden shaking of a ground.

The tectonic plates can move in various ways as shown in the diagrams. As a result of the tectonic plates moving, there is an earthquake somewhere around the world every 30 seconds, and that includes the UK.

Okay, we've got our first check for understanding here.

Can you tell your partner how often earthquakes occur and where? Pause the video now to have a go at that question.

Okay, Izzy says, "As a result of tectonic plate movement, earthquakes occur somewhere in the world every 30 seconds." Brilliant.

The UK is not a major earthquake zone and does not have very large earthquakes.

However, the UK does have small earthquakes.

Have you ever felt an earthquake shake the ground in the UK? Izzy says that her dad felt an earthquake in Sheffield in 2018.

Izzy is correct.

There was an earthquake in 2018, which was felt in Sheffield.

The earthquake's epicentre, which is the point on Earth's surface where the earthquake hits first was in Wales, but the earthquake's seismic waves were felt in various parts of the UK, including Sheffield.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 4.

4.

Let's check for understanding with a true or false question.

True or false, the UK has lots of big earthquakes? Pause the video now and answer true or false to that question.

Welcome back.

Did you say false to that question? Let's see if we can justify our answer.

Is it A, the UK doesn't have any earthquakes, or B, the UK has very small earthquakes? Pause the video again to answer that question.

The correct answer for that question is B.

The UK does have earthquakes, but they are very small earthquakes.

Earthquakes that occur in and around the British Isles are recorded by the British Geological Survey.

The British Geological Survey record, the date and time of an earthquake, the magnitude or strength of an earthquake, and the region the earthquake occurred in.

As you can see from the table here, earthquakes have occurred in the UK from April to May, 2024, but they've all been less than two on the moment magnitude scale, which goes all the way up to 10, with 9.

5 being the strongest earthquake recorded off the coast of Chile.

Earthquakes 1 to 2 on the moment magnitude scale are generally never felt.

Let's just check our understanding here.

Can you identify the location of the earthquake that occurred on the 5th of May, 2024? That's the 5th of the 5th, 2024.

Pause the video now and see if you can locate that earthquake.

Were you correct? Yes, the earthquake that occurred on the 5th of May, 2024 was in Cornwall, and it had a magnitude of 1.

1.

Well done if you got that answer correct.

This map shows earthquakes that occurred in the UK in a 30 day period in 2024.

The size of the circle shows how large the earthquake was.

Here we can see the largest earthquakes in the UK have occurred in Wales, Cornwall, close to the border of Northern Ireland, and in the Irish and Northern Sea.

These earthquakes are all less than four on the moment magnitude scale, which may have been felt in places but didn't cause any significant damage.

Let's check our understanding again.

Which two cities didn't experience an earthquake in the timeframe for this map? A, London, B, Manchester, or C, Edinburgh? Remember, you are choosing two cities that didn't experience an earthquake.

Pause the video now to see if you can identify those two cities.

Welcome back.

Did you answer London and Edinburgh? Those two cities didn't experience an earthquake in the timeframe of that map.

Well done if you got those two questions correct.

Okay, so this brings us onto our first task.

Use the map to answer these three questions.

Which earthquake was the closest to your school? Where was it? And what distance was it from your school? Pause the video now and see if you can use the map to answer those three questions.

Welcome back.

Here we have an example answer from a pupil who lives and goes to school in Sheffield.

The earthquake closest to our school was just north of Ramsbottom, which is near Manchester.

The earthquake was 50 miles away from our school in Sheffield.

Well done if you completed that task correctly.

That brings us onto the second part of our lesson today, where do earthquakes occur? Here we can see the tectonic plates outlined in red.

The African Plate is in the centre of the map with the South American Plate to its west, and the Indian Australian Plate to its east.

The majority of earthquakes occur along plate boundaries, this is where two tectonic plates meet.

As the tectonic plates move in different directions, they interlock.

When this subsequent buildup of pressure is released, seismic waves, which are known as shock waves, radiate towards Earth's surface.

This is an earthquake.

A map of earthquakes from 2017 shows a pattern of earthquakes occurring along plate boundaries.

We can see earthquakes, which are identified with a red dot, have a magnitude of eight or above.

Orange dotted earthquakes have a magnitude of seven.

Yellow dotted earthquakes have a magnitude of six.

Green, five and blue, four.

Earthquakes with a magnitude of less than four are not recorded on this map.

We can see the lines of earthquakes show the shape of the plate boundaries.

Just take a minute and see if you can compare those two maps and identify the plate boundaries on both maps.

There we can see them.

Let's just stop and check our understanding.

Where do you think most earthquakes will occur in this area? Pause the video now and have a think about that question.

Welcome back.

Most earthquakes will occur along the plate boundaries, and they are identified in red.

Here we can see New Zealand to the Southeast Australia is on a tectonic plate boundary, as is Papua New Guinea and Indonesia to the north of Australia.

The map shows a lot of bigger earthquakes occurred along plate boundaries to the east and west of the Pacific Ocean.

Here they are identified.

The earthquakes follow the plate boundaries along the west coast of North and South America, where the Pacific Plate meets the North American and South American Plates.

So here we have the North American Plate boundary and the South American Plate boundary.

The earthquakes also follow the plate boundaries along the east coast of China, Japan, and New Zealand, where the Pacific and Philippine Plates meet the Eurasian and Australian Plates.

Let's just pause and check our understanding again here.

Which tectonic plates have a boundary here? Pause the video now, and let's see if you can answer that question.

So the Pacific Plate and the South American Plates have a boundary here.

Well done if you answered that question correctly.

That was a tricky one.

This brings us onto our second task.

The United States Geological Survey record earthquakes globally.

The following earthquakes are just some this occurred in one day in 2024.

Using an atlas or digital map to locate the places and label them on your map.

Devise a key to show the magnitude.

The key can be any colour you like.

So there are six earthquakes to plot on your map here in order of strongest to weakest.

Vanuatu with a magnitude of five.

Peru with a magnitude of 4.

7.

Papua New Guinea with a magnitude of 4.

1.

El Salvador with magnitude of 4.

1.

And Dominican Republic with a magnitude of 3.

8.

And finally, Oregon with a magnitude of 2.

6.

Let's see if you can pause the video now to complete that task.

Welcome back.

Does your map look similar to the one shown here? My key shows earthquakes with a magnitude of one to two are identified with a yellow dot.

Earthquakes with a magnitude of three to four identified with an orange or amber dot.

And earthquakes with a magnitude of five to six are identified with a red dot.

Vanuatu is identified by a red dot using this key as its earthquake had a magnitude of five.

Peru, Papua New Guinea, El Salvador, and Dominican Republic are all located correctly on the map using an amber dot.

Oregon in the United States of America is located on the map with a yellow dot, as that earthquake had a magnitude of 2.

6.

Well done if you successfully managed to locate those earthquakes on a map, and created a key to identify their magnitude.

Great learning, and I hope you enjoyed that task.

That takes us to the end of our lesson.

Let's try and quickly summarise today's lesson.

Today we have learnt that every 30 seconds, there is an earthquake somewhere in the world, and that includes Britain.

We have also learnt that maps can be investigated to locate major earthquake zones.

And finally, we have learnt that earthquakes occur near plate boundaries, tectonic plate boundaries.

Well done for all your hard work today.

I hope to see you again for some more fantastic geography.

Well done.