Data - USGS Earthquake Locations 1973 - 2006
Earthquakes Plotted - USGS 1973 - 2006
Red = Great / Green = Major / Blue = Strong / Purple=Moderate
Why did I build this eathquake point file? I did it for the pleasure of building it. Having dealt with mappable data for many years and at one time having built an earthquake locations database, I thought I would give it a try again.
First the location of the data - Earthquake Hazards Program. I downloaded the data in logical groups: First magnitude 8.0+, next magnitude 7.0+, then 6.0+ and finally 5.0+. I stopped there because 5.0+ had 49,000 earthquakes between 1973 and 2006. It was a good place to stop
I worked the data into the format I require in Marplot: lon, lat, name. I got creative with the name. Each earthquake reads: magnitude - depth / yr-mn-dy /time of day (5.6 - 33 / 2006-07-29 / 55930.33). After preparing the data, I loaded them into my World Shorelines map file into 4 separate layers (EQ 8.0+, EQ 7.0+, EQ 6.0+ and EQ 5.0+). I selected an appropriate symbol, color and range to display icon and name. I then displayed them over my other data
Some of you might be saying, "So what. No big deal." But I say, "Cool!". I love putting a plotable point file together and loading it and have it work. And my little earthquake file works!
