Mapping Tectonic Hot Spots

These materials were developed by Kenneth E. Foote, Geneva Mixon, and others of the  Department of Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2005 to 2009. These materials may be used for study, research, and education in not-for-profit applications.  These materials may not be copied to or issued from another web server without the authors' express permission. Copyright (c) 2005-2009. All commercial rights are reserved. If you have comments or suggestions, please contact the authors or Kenneth E. Foote at k.foote@colorado.edu.  The the materials are Adapted and expanded from: Lyn Malone, Anita M. Palmer, and Christine L. Voigt.  2002.  Mapping Our World: GIS Lessons for Educators.  Redlands, CA: ESRI Press.  Pp. 107-111 and Joseph K. Kerski, 1997. Exploring Earthquakes in Space and Time Through the Internet and a Geographic Information System. URL: http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/public/outreach/quakegis/main.html

The key outcome of this activity is to learn how ready data and maps can be imported into ArcMap for use in GIS visualization and analysis.  In this activity we will fuse this data to explore the distribution of recent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.  We will also see how easily data can be exported into Google Earth KML format for visualization and  how terrain models can be constructed for 3-D visualizations and animations.  By the end of the this activity you will be able to:

1) Import data and maps into ArcMap
2) Define and use appropriate coordinate systems and projections for your maps
3) Export data into KML format for viewing in Google Earth
4) Create terrain models and 3-D flyby animations

The World Wide Web is a great source for geographic data. In this step, you will go to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Web site to find earthquake data.

a. Open another Web browser and go to the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/neic/) and Global Search page at http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/epic/epic_global.html.

b. For Search area, select Global (Worldwide)

c. For Output File Type, select Spreadsheet format (comma delimited)

d. For Search Parameters, select USGS/NEIC (PDE) 1973 - Present

e. For Optional Search Parameters, type the range of dates for the preceding 30 days. For example, if today is October 12, request data from 2008/9/12 to 2008/10/12. Set the Minimum Magnitude to 5 and the Maximum Magnitude to 9.

f. Do not type any values for Depth or Intensity.  Click "Submit Search."

Step 3 Prepare data for ArcMap

a. Use your mouse to highlight and select all the data shown. Be sure to include the field names, but do not include other text on the Web page.

b. From the Edit menu, select Copy.

c. Open a text editor like Wordpad or Notepad. From the Edit menu, choose Paste.

d. Delete the “(hhmmss.mm)UTC” section of the Time column heading. Shorten Latitude to Lat , Longitude to Long , and Magnitude to Mag so that the file looks like this when you are finished:

Step 4 Download shapefiles to use with your data

a. Download some Arcview shapefiles to use with your data.  They are available here.  This is a self-extracting D: drive file containing 93 files, including:

1. cities.shp, Major ciities and capitals
2. cntry00.shp, Nations of the world as of 2000
3. continents.shp, Continents of the world each digitized as a separate feature
4. faults.shp, Major world fault lines
5. feature.shp, Outline of major world mountain ranges and ocean trenches
6. geogrid.shp, World graticule with equator, prime meridian, tropics of cancer and capricorn, arctic circle and other reference lines
7. mapline.shp, An outline of the world's land masses
8. ocean.shp, A large polygon that can be used to represent the world's oceans
9. plates.shp, Major world tectonic places
10. plat_lin.shp, Boundary lines between major world tectonic plates
11. states.shp, The 50 US states and the District of Columbia, a file you will use in the second week of this exercise
12. volcanos.shp, Major volcanos of the world classified by elevation and level of activity
13. world30.shp, A world latitude-longitude graticule measured in 30 degree increments.  This is useful, as needed, as a background theme.

Be sure to put it into the "hotspots" folder you have created on your memory stick.  Once saved, open that folder in Windows and double-click on the file "hotspotsdata.zip" and a menu will automatically open.  When prompted, be sure to extract the files to the "hotspots" folder.  Once the files are unzipped, you no longer need a copy of "hotspotsdata.zip" and it can be erased.  If you every need another copy you can download it again from the server.  Incidentally, for every shape file there is an hypertext file of the same name (cities.shp and cities.htm, for example) that describes the contents and characteristics of the shapefile--information known as "metadata."  

Step 5 Start ArcMap and add your data

a. Start ArcMap.

b. Start a new empty map and add the following shapefiles from the zipped files you downloaded in the previous step (use the Add Data Button ).

1. faults.shp
2. plat_lin.shp
3. continent.shp
4. plates.shp
5. ocean.shp

Once these layers are loaded, you will probably have to order them in the legend so that ocean.shp and continent.shp are below the other layers. Otherwise they are likely to hide one another.

c. Now add the Earthquake data.  Use the same Add Data button and select the quake01.txt file you created in Step Two.  You can now view this data in ArcMap as a table (right-click the table name and select Open).  The Latitude and Longitude coordinates in this table will be used to create a new layer of point features that indicate the location of earthquakes.

d. Close the quake01 table.

Step 6 Add XY Data

a. From the Tools menu, choose Add XY Data. The Add XY Data dialog box appears.

b. Confirm that the Table is quake01.txt, the X Field is Long, and the Y Field is Lat. This may seem backwards at first, but it is correct.

c. Click OK to create a new layer from the data in your quake01.txt table. Quake01.txt Events appears in the data frame legend as a point feature.

NOTE:  You may need to toggle back and forth between the Display tab and the Source tab in your data frame legend as you proceed with the following steps.

d. Make sure the layer is turned on to see where these recent earthquakes have occurred. Because ArcMap randomly selects a symbol color, the layer may be difficult to see. 

e. Change the symbol color to see the points better.

f.  Now convert the the quake01.txt point layer to a shapefile.  Right-click the layer and choose Data | Export Data.  Export all features using the same coordinate system as the data frame.  Left-click on the folder icon to the right and select the proper output location for the shapefile.  Navigate to your hotspots folder on your memory stick and name it according to the dates of the earthquake data.  For example, if data covered 17 September to 17 October 2004, name the shapefile Qk91704.  Click OK.  ArcMap will ask if you want to add the exported data to the map as a layer.  Choose YES.  

g. You can now delete Quake01.txt Events (the layer, not the table!) from the data frame.  Right-click the layer and choose Remove.

h. Change the symbol color on the the new Qk91704 shapefile.

Step 7 Save your work

a. Save your ArcMap document (the ArcMap .mxd file) in your "hotspots" folder on your memory stick. It is recommended that you save your project as ABworld.mxd where your initials are AB.

Step 8 Locate and format volcano data 

You will now follow a different procedure to collect and map volcano data. 

a.  Open your Web browser and go to the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report produced by the Smithsonian and USGS at http://www.volcano.si.edu/gvp/reports/usgs/index.cfm#lokon.

b. Open the links for all New Activity/Unrest and Ongoing Activity. Example:

c. Open Notepad, Wordpad or another text editor program. Copy, paste and then edit the information about each active volcano. The information first appears as something like this when copied from the Smithsonian/USGS page:

AWU Sangihe Islands, Indonesia 3.67°N, 125.50°E; summit elev. 1,320 m; All times are local (= UTC + 8 hours)
TENGGER CALDERA Java, Indonesia 7.942°S, 112.950°E; summit elev. 2,329 m; All times are local (= UTC + 7 hours)
ANATAHAN Mariana Islands, central Pacific Ocean 16.35°N, 145.67°E; summit elev. 788 m
DUKONO Halmahera, Indonesia 1.70°N, 127.87°E; summit elev. 1,185 m
KARYMSKY Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 54.05°N, 159.43°E; summit elev. 1,536 m
KILAUEA Hawaii, USA 19.43°N, 155.29°W; summit elev. 1,222 m
NYIRAGONGO Democratic Republic of the Congo 1.52°S, 29.25°E; summit elev. 3,469 m

Note: In converting this file to the comma-delimited form needed for ArcMap, be sure to eliminate all spaces and denote field titles. Also, convert all south and west latitudes and longitudes to negative numbers.  The file will look like this:

volcano,state,country,lat,long,elev_m
ERTA ALE,,Ethiopia,13.60,40.67,613
SANTA ANA,,El Salvador,13.853,-89.630,2365
BARREN ISLAND,Andaman Islands,India,12.29,93.8,8354
CAYAMBE,,Ecuador,0.029,-77.986,5790
COLIMA,,México,19.514,-103.62,3850
DUKONO,Halmahera,Indonesia,1.70,127.87,1185
KILAUEA,Hawaii,USA,19.43,-155.29,1222
MANAM,New Guinea,Papua New Guinea,-4.10,145.06,1807

d. Save the file to the d:drive in your "hotspots_last name " folder. Save it as a delimited file and name it volcano01.txt

e. Follow the procedures outlined for the earthquake data to create a volcano01.txt point theme on your map. You will need to select volcano01.txt in the Add XY dialog box.

f.  Convert the volcano01.txt event theme to a shapefile and delete volcano01.txt Events from the project.

g.  Project the maps to gain a better perspective on the data. Go to View|Data Frame|Properties. Select the Coordinate System tab from the menu.  Notice that the map is not currently  projected.  ArcMap is displaying the data using the GCS_Assumed_Geographic_1 D_North_American_1927 coordinate system.  You may select a projection by going to the Predefined folder and choosing a Projected Coordinate System.  For this project we are working with World data.  You will find a list of projections in this folder.  Try a few different projections; I would suggest using the Hammer-Aitoff, Mollweide, or Robinson projections.

h. Save your project into your "hotspots" folder on your memory stick. Be sure to keep the name you assigned earlier in the investigation.

Step 9 Explore the Data and Create a Map

a. Explore the data you have mapped by classifying the data points in a variety of ways: earthquake magnitude, earthquake depth, date of most recent volcanic eruption, and so on. You might produce a number of maps like the following of earthquake magnitude.

b. As you explore the data, consider the following questions which you will discuss in lab:

1. Do the mapped events occur along known plate boundaries? Where? How far from the plate boundaries? (Try using select by location tool).
2. Are some boundary zones more active at the present time than others? Which ones?
3. Where did the largest earthquakes occur? Or where have they been occurring?
4. Are any of the volcanoes currently showing activity near cities or located in areas with high population density? Identify them.

c. When you are finished with the discussion, create a thematic maps that answers these questions using map symbols, text, labels and annotations to explain your answers.  The layout should include:

• Title
• Legend
• Map scale
• North arrow
• Author of map
• Date of map creation
• Data sources

d. Print your map to turn in next week.