Yes, topographic features can be used as a tool in identifying the risk of active faulting in an area. When scientists and other professionals are making these sorts of assessments, they tend to concentrate most upon landforms near a potentially active fault trace or on the sub-surface structural geology of an area. Even without specialized training, however, it is possible to formulate some simple hypotheses based on a more generalized look at an area.
The activity below gives you a chance to do just that.
Does Topography Signal Earthquake Potential?
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Is there a connection between topography and the distribution
of earthquakes? |
This activity has shown, as your previous studies should have lead you to assume, that topographic changes and earthquakes are often related. Yet some of the major topographic changes on this map were relatively free of earthquakes, and other areas with a great deal of earthquake activity were essentially free of topography. How can these be explained, and does their existence weaken our assumption?
