• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Teachers on the Leading Edge

Guiding Pacific Northwest Teachers from Subduction to Eruption

  • Home
  • Past Workshops
  • About TOTLE
  • Contact TOTLE

Cascadia GPS 2 “Locked and Loading” Lesson Plan

September 10, 2012 By Kyle

This classroom activity is an enhancement of the Cascadia GPS Gumdrop activity. It is intended for teachers who wish to provide their students with a more complete spatial picture of deformation of the Pacific Northwest continental margin. The big-picture is that coastal stations of Oregon and Washington are being pushed toward the northeast at about ½ the velocity of Juan de Fuca Plate motion with respect to interior North America. Urban corridor stations in the Puget Lowlands and Willamette Valley are being pushed toward the northeast at about ¼ of that velocity. Stations on the east sides of Oregon and Washington are not moving at all. The clear implication is that coastal areas are moving towards eastern areas as the active continental margin is compressed in SW – NE direction. Strain is building within the Pacific Northwest margin of the North American Plate as the Juan de Fuca Plate pushes the North American Plate margin toward the northeast. This accumulating strain will eventually be released in the next great earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The plate boundary regions of the Juan de Fuca and North American plates are “locked and loading”.

Sorting Information
Topic: 
Pacific Northwest Plate Tectonics Earthquakes and Tsunamis
Material Type: 
Lesson Plans
Grade Level: 
Middle School
High School
File Size, Number of Pages, and/or Duration: 
1.5 MB; 4-page PDF
Download Materials: 
Click Here to Download

Filed Under: Earthquakes, Lesson Plan, Pacific Northwest, Plate Tectonics, Subduction

Primary Sidebar

Topics

  • Introduction to Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes – Instructional Aids
  • Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards
  • Cascadia Earthquakes and Tsunamis
  • Cascade Volcanoes and Volcanic Hazards
  • Virtual Field Experiences

Earthquake Notices

IRIS Education and Outreach provides teaching resources on all magnitude 7 and larger earthquakes within 24 hours of those events.
IRIS Teachable Moments

Footer

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2021 · University of Portland