ABAG Earthquake Maps
An interesting collection of resources with an emphasis on California. There is information on making your home as safe as possible during earthquakes, a quiz, puzzles, hazard maps and animations, the impact of quakes on transportation, ground liquefication and many other topics. The main page is well laid out and easy to navigate. A good resource for schools.

Alfred Wegener
Wegener proposed the Continental Drift theory. This is a one paragraph biography of this famous geologist. No pictures, and no links.

California Has Its Faults...
An informative page about not just California's faults, but different types of geological fault as well. The information is well written, clearly presented and idea for school use with 'new' geologists.

Cascade Range Volcanoes
Select a volcano in the Cascade Mountain Range from either a map or a list of names. This site will tell you all about the volcano you select. A very interesting site well worth visiting.

Cascades Volcano Observatory
This site is full of fascinating information. There are special features, such as updates to news and current events, hazard assessment reports, educational talks and lectures, a selection of links to volcanoes, hazards and a wealth of other topics related to volcanism.

Continental Drift
A short text providing an overview of Continental Drift and the evidence put forward to support the theory. The 'General Description Of Continental Drift' is a useful resource for all school students wanting to understand the basics of the subject without having to read pages and pages of text.

Earth's Active Volcanoes
A clearly presented list of links to the worlds active volcanoes. The volcanoes are broken up by region, making it easy to spot associations between volcanoes in the same general locations. This site is a good starting point for research if you know either the name of the volcano or the part of the Earth where it can be found. For general school project work it is also a good starting point, offering students a good range of volcanoes to research further.

Earth's Interior and Plate Tectonics
A very good article on the Earth's Interior looking at its composition and structure, including a brief explanation of seismic waves and how they are used to deduce the Earth's internal structure. Both the Ocean and Continental Lithospheres are discussed, as well as a short introduction to Plate tectonics. This is a very good site but not aimed at the younger student or people new to geology. As a rough guide, in the UK it would coincide with the work undertaken by students aged 15 and over.

Earthquake Facts and Follies
Twenty five questions and answers about Earthquakes, such as Can Earthquakes be prevented? , How are Earthquakes Measured? and What Was the Greatest Number of People Killed in One Earthquake?. This site is well suited to school use, being a collection of interesting facts that could form the basis of further investigation or be read for their own interest. Suited to most age groups.

Earthquake Information from the USGS
This site is run by the United States Geological Survey and contains six sections; Latest Quake Information, What's New or Interesting, Hazards and Preparedness, More about Earthquakes, Studying Earthquakes, and Resources. Each section links to another page or pages covering the topic in detail.

Earthquake Prone Areas
This is a very unusual but vivid map showing the danger areas in the USA. By using a combination of colouring and vertical relief the danger areas are highlighted in excellent clarity. There should be more maps like this one!

Earthquakes in British Columbia
British Columbia receives an Earthquake everyday. The site looks at the causes and effects of quakes: good photographs and diagrams are included.

Earthquakes in the UK
Data for the last month is presented as a gif type map. The map covers all of the UK, and the epicenters of quakes are shown by proportional circles. Contrary to many people's beliefs, the UK experiences numerous earthquakes every year, though most are too weak for us to notice them. This map is an excellent way of showing this activity. The maps are updated every month and show Uk Seismicity over the last 30 days.

Earth Today
This is like a diary of the geological events around the world on a day to day basis. As interesting geological events occur, they are added to the site with links to further information, maps, news stories etc. This is another valuable site for school use, allowing teachers to keep up to date with case studies and examples. Using this site you can teach with events that are in the news, rather than ones published in text books already 5 years out of date.

Electronic Volcano
The Electronic Volcano is a window into the world of information on active volcanoes. From here you can find many types of materials on active volcanoes worldwide, such as maps, photographs and full texts of dissertations and a few elusive documents. The Electronic Volcano will guide you to resources in libraries or resources on other information servers.

Folding (Appalachian Ridge and Valley)
The geology of Pennsylvania,USA is shown in Landsat satellite images, together with a detailed text explaining the geology that has shaped the landscape. Some of the language is quite technical and suited only to those students with a good level of geographical and geological understanding, ie able to comprehend "homogeneous crystalline rocks".

Folding, Faulting and Mountains
This is an interesting lesson on Mountain formation due to plate movements. It concentrates on Folding, Faulting and Dome building, using text, diagrams and maps. An interesting online lesson, or download it and use it as the basis of your own lesson plan.

Global Earthquake Map
The map shows the recent earthquakes around the globe as red squares, the size of which are proportional to their intensity. By clicking on the squares you can zoom in closer.

Global Earthquake Report
A regularly updated list of the earthquakes recorded around the world over the last few days. Only the larger quakes are shown, giving their time, location, magnitude and depth below the surface. You may also choose to view the quakes superimposed on either a world or USA map.

Internet Natural Hazards Links
A set of links to pages dealing with a range of natural hazards including volcanoes, earthquakes, fires and windstorms.

IRIS Seismic Monitor
This is an interactive educational display of global seismicity that allows you to monitor earthquakes in near real-time, view records of ground motion, and visit seismic stations around the world. The display is updated every 30 minutes using data from the National Earthquake Information Center. Earthquakes that have occurred within the last 24 hours are shown with red circles. The circles fade through orange to yellow within 15 days. After 15 days, the circles are replaced by light purple dots that remain on the map for five years.

Kobe earthquake
A QuickTime video clip of the earthquake that struck Kobe on January 17th 1995. The file is 5MB with a run time of 3 minutes 34 seconds.

Largest Earthquakes in the USA
Produced by the National Earthquake Information Center, this site lists the largest 15 earthquakes to have hit the USA, complete with online maps and text. A very useful site if you want to know about past quakes in the USA.

Latest Earthquake Information
This is a near real time earthquake bulletin provided by the NEIS, part of the US Geological Survey. The data provided is ; Date, Time, Lat/Long, Depth, Magnitude and Comments. You can also click on a link to see the earthquake located on a world map.

Latest New Zealand Earthquake Report
The Institute of Geophysics at Victoria University of Wellington provides a report on the very latest earthquakes in New Zealand. The page is brief, loads quickly ( it does from here anyway ) and gives the usual basic quake information.

Montserrat Volcano Observatory
Montserrat is an island with serious volcano problems! This page is the official report on the current situation at Soufriere Hills Volcano. There are archives of the weekly newsletter published by the Emergency Dept, information about the Volcano Observatory, pictures, daily scientific reports, maps and links to other related sites. The best Montserrat information site I have found, and a valuable educational resource.

Mt. St. Helen's
Some interesting photographs of this famous volcano before and after its recent eruption. The collection of slides makes a visit here well worthwhile , and as an added bonus there is even a live video camera image from the Johnston Ridge Observatory, updated every 10 minutes.

Museum of the City of San Francisco
This is the home page of the Museum. Among it's exhibits are the Great Earthquake of 1906, images of the earthquake, the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake and the Oakland Firestorm.

NASA Volcanology Pictures
Images of volcanoes in action, provided by NASA. There is information about the EOS IDS project and an 'Ask an Expert' facility too.

National Earthquake Information Center
Home of the National Earthquake Information Centre, with links to Current Earthquake Information, general Earthquake Information, an Earthquake Database, Seismograph Station Info and other earthquake information sources.

Pacific Ring of Fire
An excellent map showing active volcanoes, plate boundaries and names, trenches, ridges and the 'Ring of Fire'. It's in colour too.

Plate Motion Calculator
Discover how fast your plate is moving, right now by entering the name of your plate and a set of latitude / longitude co-ordinates. The form is very easy to complete, and the server returns the velocity and direction of your plate's movement is a few seconds. A wonderful use of internet technology and a place you have to visit at least once while studying plate tectonics.

Plate Tectonics
An explanation of tectonics, volcanoes, earthquakes, continental drift and the Earth's interior. It is well written and most informative, though it has a bias towards the USA when giving case studies. A good educational site.

Plate Tectonics
This site takes a different approach to tectonics. It explains the history of our understanding of the Earth and provides a brief overview of the theories behind our understanding. The special feature is the collection of animations showing plate movement over the last 750 million years - schools should visit this resource!

Plates of The World

Recent Natural Hazards News
A set of articles related to natural hazards, including some covering tectonics, earthquakes and volcanics. The content is aimed at more advanced students and is not suitable for younger students or those new to plate tectonics.

Ruapehu
Mt Ruapehu is an active volcano in New Zealand. With the great catch phrase of "Forget java, we've got lava", this site provides the most recent information about the volcano and the latest video image from the volcano camera..

Ring of Fire
A map of the Ring Of Fire

San Andreas Fault Zone
A short but very informative introduction to the San Andreas Fault Zone. Some of the terminology is a bit technical but the general content can probably be understood by most students, perhaps with a dictionary to hand.

Surfing the Internet for Earthquake Data
A very useful list of links to internet sites related to seismic activity, including ways to get seismic data if you don't have access to a web browser. This is a very good site for finding other sites, and can save you hours of searching for data.

The Quake of '89
A short fact file about the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, covering value of damage, number of injuries, deaths etc. Suitable for any age group of students who are seeking basic factual data about the quake.

This Dynamic Earth
This is a really good site. It explains the story of Plate tectonics in an interesting and absorbing style, with many illustrations and photographs. This is a 'must visit' site in my opinion, and an excellent place for students to browse.

Understanding Earthquakes
Note:This site requires Java for some of it's animations, but also contains static images and text. There is an Earthquake quiz, but it consists of only four questions. Other features are Famous Earthquake accounts from the likes of Mark Twain and Charles Darwin, Rotating globes and a textual history of seismology to 1910.

U.S Geological Survey
The home page of the United States Geological Survey. From here you can link to their many resources covering all aspects of earthquakes, tectonics and volcanism.

U.S. Earthquake Epicenters
A map of the USA epicenters during the last 2 Weeks. The map is updated at regular intervals and shows epicenters as proportional dots, the size of dot being related to the magnitude of the quake.

U.S.A. Earthquake Map
U.S.A earthquakes are shown on this map, with the size of the symbols proportional to the magnitude of the earthquakes. In addition to the Continental U.S.A, Alaska and Hawaii are included. You may choose any location on this map to zoom in much closer. Once you zoom, you will see a lot more detail appearing on the map, such as roads, railways, rivers and national park boundaries.

Violent Planet Page
This is an extremely good site that covers all the forms of natural violent hazards created by nature. her you can find a vast range of information including quakes, volcanoes and related incidents. There are facts, reports, case studies and links to other specialist sites. This is really a very well designed and informative site.

Virtual Earthquake
This is another 'unusual' site, this time offering students the chance to trigger a virtual earthquake and generate seismograph charts of their own quake. There os also a good introduction to earthquakes, seismic waves, seismograms and epicentres. This is a fun place to visit as well as being a good educational resource.

Volcanic Humor
The lighter side of working with volcanoes, containing some stories and cartoons.

Volcanic Photoglossary
This is an excellent idea; a sort of grown up version of a child's picture dictionary. For each of the words in a geological glossary there is a photograph. If you want to see an image of a cinder cone, aa, spatter or Pillow Lava this is the place to visit. I had a great time just browsing the pictures.

Volcano Watch
Volcano Watch is a weekly newsletter written by the scientists at the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. It is published in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald's Sunday newspaper and the West Hawai'i Today's Monday newspaper, and posted on their internet site the following Monday or Tuesday. While primarily addressed to the residents of the Big Island of Hawai`i, some articles may have a broader scope. Article topics may range from volcanic features on the Big Island, volcanic hazards, informational topics of Long Valley, Montserrat, or Alaska, to topics about the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Volcanoes
The U.S. Geological Survey maintains this registry of Earth and Environmental Science Internet resources as a service to the research community. It contains links to sites related to volcanology, such as the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the Montserrat Information Archives.

Volcanoes.com
Volcanoes.Com is another site of links to other volcano sites. The links are arranged by geographical area and can all be accessed from the main page. There is a search engine allowing you to look for more volcano related information on the internet, or to search for volcano books! The site is intended for use by student and promised to be student friendly, with no adult links whatsoever.

VolcanoWorld
A mixture of links and original information, and even a search engine. The main page is split into sections, each covering a different aspect of the site, such as "Research and Information", "Interact with US", and "Volcano Indices". This is a good resource and ideal for school use.

World's 10 Most Recent Large Earthquakes
A gif format map of the world with the 10 most recent large earthquakes plotted on it. The earthquakes are represented by proportional circles, the size of the circle reflecting the magnitude of the earthquake. The image seems to load quite quickly.