Quakeshakes

Quakeshakes turns your home computer into a seismic monitoring station, displaying recent worldwide earthquake activity in the past day or week and giving you a dramatic visual record of the many quakes that strike the planet every day.

Quakeshakes taps into the near-live data feed of a worldwide network of seismic sensors maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) which updates every 30 minutes. A giant 8.8 quake with tsunami waves rocks the coast of Chile and chances are you'll know about it before it hits the news.

Quakeshakes is not just a simple monitoring station. It is packed with educational features. Learn about the earth's plate boundaries, the motion of the earth's tectonic plates and the three types of fault zones. You will see, for instance, where tsunamis are most likely to be generated along subduction zones deep in ocean trenches.

You will also learn about the earth's "hot spots, " regions like the infamous "ring of fire" where earthquakes are most likely to occur. There's even a "top ten" list showing you locations of the biggest and deadliest quakes in history.

You get a choice of map views with overlay options. You can change the way quakes appear on the map. A color code option can display quakes by size or surface depth.

Quakeshakes is a great educational reference tool. Perfect for home and school, classroom labs or anyone wanting to learn more about earthquakes, where they happen and why.