Plot That Quake! - Assessment Questionnaire

©1998 The Regents of the University of California

Pre and Post Questions for Plot that Quake!

These questions are to help you find out what you know about earthquakes BEFORE you begin the unit Plot that Quake! Your answers to these questions AFTER you have completed the unit will help you discover how much you have learned in your studies. This exercise is not graded. It is your very own tool for measuring how much you have learned.

Fill in the blanks

  1. Latitude is measured from _________________to _________________.

  2. Longitude is measured from _________________to _________________.

  3. The hypocenter of an earthquake is ________________________________________.

  4. _______________________ is the field of science that specializes in studying earthquakes.

  5. A fault is ________________________________________.


True or False

  1. There is an earthquake every day on the Earth. (True) (False)

  2. Earthquakes occur everywhere on the Earth. (True) (False)

  3. There are more big earthquakes than little earthquakes. (True) (False)

  4. Big earthquakes always cause the most damage. (True) (False)


Multiple Choice

  1. Approximately how many earthquakes of magnitude 7 and larger occur each year?
    a) 1000
    b) 100
    c) 10
    d) 1

  2. What is the depth of most earthquakes?
    a) between 0-600 km
    b) between 600-1200 km
    c) between 1200-2891 km
    d) between 5150-6371 km

  3. On a given day, who would be most likely to feel an earthquake? A person in
    a) Sydney, Australia
    b) Tokyo, Japan
    c) Chicago, United States
    d) Sao Paulo, Brazil


Why, what and how questions

  1. Why are earthquakes frequently associated with volcanoes?

  2. Describe where earthquakes occur.

  3. How do scientists measure the size of earthquakes?

  4. Is possible to predict where earthquakes may occur?