National Park Service

Denali National Park

Earthquake Information

Alaska Earthquake Information Center

Maps

Park Maps

Faults and Earthquakes

Vocab List

Earthquake - A sudden movement of the earth's crust cause by the release of stress accumulated along geologic faults or by volcanic activity

Fault - Fracture in the earths crust

Geophysics - The physics of the earth and its environment, including the physics of fields such as meterology, oceanography, and seismology

GPS - Global Positioning System

Noise - Unwanted vibrations such as rivers, creeks, tree roots, pipes, vehicles and people

P wave - a compressional wave that arrives first during a seismic event

S wave - a shear wave which travels slower than a P wave and arrives second during a seismic event

Seismogram - the data from a seismometer

Seismology - study of vibrations in the earth

Seismometer - Instrument that detects and measures movement in the earth

S-P time - the amount of time between the arival of the P and S waves

Subduction - A geologic process in which one plate is forced below the other

Tectonics - The study of the earth's crust and its movements