DLESE Teaching Boxes

Earthquakes as evidence: Lesson sequence

Reviewing direction of movement in faults
Rationale	Students will become familiar with the types of movement in three types of faults: normal, reverse, and strike slip.
Instructions	Students can either work at computers in groups, or the teacher can demonstrate to the class using a projector. Teaching tip: Students will be able to see the changes in distances between two points for each of these animations if they “measure” the original distance between the first and third trees and then re-measure the distance following the animation (movement of the earth). A class discussion should summarize the following points: - Normal fault: Note that the first and third trees are further apart after the fault movement. The term we use when things are moving away from each other is divergent. - Reverse fault: Note that the first and third trees are closer together after the fault movement. The term we use when thing are moving closer to one another is convergent. - Strike slip fault: Note that the river is offset from its original course. That means that two pieces of land slid past one another. The term we use for this sliding movement is transform. The first and third trees are also further apart.
Resources	Fault Motion http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-009-461 The site provides animations depicting very elementary examples of fault motion.
Materials	None
Teacher preparation	None