Expectations

Lesson 2: Locating Earthquake

Epicenter
1. Explain the triangulation method in determining the earthquake epicenter; and
2. Locate the epicenter of an earthquake using the triangulation method.

Pre-Test
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. How many seismograms are at least needed to locate the earthquake epicenter?
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D.4

Study the data on the table below.

Locati Arrival time of P

on wave
A 7:00 AM
B 7:18 AM
C 6:55 AM

2. Which location is nearest to the epicenter?

3. Which location is the farthest from the epicenter?
4. Given the same geological conditions, which location will experience the
highest intensity?
5. If the three places have the same geological conditions, which location will record
the highest magnitude?

Looking Back
You have learned about the nature of earthquakes and how they provide
information about Earth’s internal structure.

Identify what is referred to in the following statements:

1. It is measured based on the damage caused by an earthquake.

2. It refers to the amount of energy released by an earthquake wave,
3. It refers to the origin of the earthquake.
4. It refers to the point on Earth’s surface where Earthquake is felt.
5. It is associated with underwater earthquakes forming a series of waves.

It is nice to know that you still remember those lessons. The speed of earthquake waves is
important in understanding more about them.
 Brief Introduction

Every time an earthquake occurs, you may have heard places that are badly hit
while others are not. Any earthquake starts from a point called focus while the
point directly above it is called the epicenter. In this module, you will learn how to locate an
epicenter in a method called triangulation method.

In the triangulation method, seismic data collected from at least three stations are compared to
determine the earthquake epicenter.

Activities

Activity 1: The Triangulation Method

Objective: To locate the earthquake epicenter using the triangulation method.

Materials: map drawing compass ruler pencil

Procedure:
1. Obtain data from three seismic stations.
2. Find the difference in the arrival time of P and S waves.
3. Find the distance of the epicenter from each station in kilometers then convert it to cm
based on the scale of the map. For example, the map has a scale where one centimeter
is equal to 100 kilometers. If the epicenter of the earthquake is 200 km away, that is
equal to 2 cm on the map.
4. Using your compass, draw a circle with a radius equal to the number you came up with
in step no.4 (the radius is the distance from the center of a circle to its edge). The center
of the circle will be the location of your seismograph. The epicenter of the earthquake is
somewhere on the edge of that circle.
5. Do the same thing for the distance to the epicenter that the other seismograms recorded
(with the location of those seismographs at the center of their circles). All of the circles
should overlap. The point where all of the circles overlap is the approximate epicenter of
the earthquake.
6. Apply the above steps in the following data gathered from three seismic stations using
Figure 6.
 Distan
ce
Difference from
Distance
in P and S the
Seis Arrival Arrival from the
waves epicent
mic time of P time of S epicenter
arrival time er (in
statio wave wave (in km)
(in cm)
n
minutes)

A 7: 7:25
15
B 7: 7:38
18
C 7: 7:25
19

Figure 6. P and S waves travel times

Scale: 1 cm = 100 km

Figure 6. Locating the epicenter

 Remember

● The difference in the arrival time of P and S waves are used to locate the
earthquake epicenter.
● Data from three seismic stations are needed to locate the earthquake epicenter using
the triangulation method.

Checking Your Understanding

Study the figure on the right.

1. In which location did the P waves arrive
earliest?

2. In which location did the P waves arrive

latest?

3. Which location is nearest to the

epicenter?

4. Which location is farthest from

the epicenter?

5. If the earthquake occurred at 7:00:00

AM, at what time did the S wave arrive
at Location 2?
(Hint: Use the
hour:minute:second format)

Figure 7. Seismic data from three stations

 Post-Test
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. How many seismograms are needed to locate the earthquake
epicenter? A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D.4

Study the data on the table.

Locati Arrival time of P

on wave
A 9:00 PM

B 9:18 PM

C 9:05 AM

2. Which location is nearest to the epicenter?

3. Which location is the farthest from the epicenter?

4. Given the same geological conditions, which location will experience the
highest intensity?

5. If the three places have the same geological conditions, which location will record
the highest magnitude?

References
Retrieved from https://steemit.com/science/@gmaktub/relationship-between-earthquakes-and-
the-study-of-waves
Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Premvelocities.jpg
Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pwave.png
Retrieved from http://www.columbia.edu/~vjd1/earthquakes.htm
Retrieved from https://d32ogoqmya1dw8.cloudfront.net/files/ANGLE/educational_materials/
activities/plotting_ea rthquake_epicenters_acti.pdf