Select a natural solid-Earth physical hazard event that occurred sometime during 1917 – 2016. See Links for finding more specific information. Certain events ARE NOT ALLOWED (see below). Natural solid-Earth physical hazards include: Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and tsunami (because of their link with earthquakes).
The reports should contain the following sections or information (I leave the specifics of how to organize this to you, within reason):
Introduction: Make sure you give the type, date, time, and location of your event. How big was it (according to relevant scales or variables)? Explicitly state why this event is important (or unique) or interesting to you (i.e., why did you select it – make sure you connect it to you, not just, it is the largest ____. A sentence starting, “I selected this event because…” or something similar, is recommended.)? This should be no more than a quarter to half page.
Causes: What caused the event? For most this will be about 1/2 page. Could be longer for some events. Focus on the tectonics for solid Earth hazards, specifics of the causes (atmospheric situation) for atmospheric hazards.
Impacts: What damage did it do? How widespread was the damage? How many people were killed, injured, how much damage occurred, etc. How did it affect commerce, etc.? This should be about one page; but describe some material in detail.
Prediction/Warnings: Were any predictions or warnings issued? Were they heeded? What can be done to better prepare for such an event in the future. About 1/2 page – we won’t have talked much about specifics other than earthquakes yet so your own speculations would be useful here.
Conclusion: A one to two sentence conclusion.
Illustrations: You may add NOT MORE THAN three additional pages with a map (recommended), pictures, or any other graphics. One (or two) of the illustrations should be a map that includes the location of your event, the area affected, and the tectonic context (if relevant). Illustrations must have captions, be numbered, and be referenced back to the text [i.e., the text must contain a reference like “… (see fig. x).”]. Illustrations and references should not be mixed in with the text! Illustrations must be properly credited/source cited. Make sure the illustrations or map(s) convey something.
Citations: Any quoted text should have an in-text standard scientific format citation*. So should any information that we (grading staff) could consider really odd, weird, or non-mainstream. Standard information on casualties, location, magnitude, etc., do not need to be cited (referenced) in text. * i.e., “The earthquake was forecast by Aardvark (1956),” or “the event was predicted (Aardvark, 1956).” See below for reference format.
References: Provide a list of sources for your report. Provide enough information so that we can locate the sources. On-line information must be from reliable sources (government, academia, industry if relevant, etc. – preferably not newspapers or other press sites, and definitely not blog sites or Wikipedia except for personal reminiscences and/or photos; all sources must be available in English at MSU). One source is not sufficient; the number of sources you will need really will depend on the event. Note: Wikipedia and similar open source web sites are NOT ACCEPTABLE sources for technical information (except for open source figures and cited, referenced in Wikipedia sources – in which case use and cite the original source) – find other sources. You do not have to use any specific referencing style or format as long as you are consistent and you provide sufficient information to locate the source (again, must be available in English at MSU, digitally or in hard copy).
