Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OFFICE OF QUEZON CITY
ERNESTO RONDON HIGH SCHOOL
Road 3, Project 6, Quezon City

__________________________________________________________________________________
Name: ____________________________ Section: __________
Date: _______________________________Score: __________

LOCATING THE EPICENTER

QUARTER 1_Week 2

Activity 1

Find the Center Objective: Locate the epicenter of an earthquake using the triangulation method.

Materials:

• hypothetical records of earthquake waves

• Philippine map

• drawing compass and ruler

Procedure:

• Study the data showing the difference in the arrival time of Primary (P) and Secondary (S) wave on three seismic
recording stations.

1. Compute the distance of the epicenter from each of the stations using this formula: d = Td x 100 km 8 seconds
Where: d = distance (km) Td = time difference in the arrival time of P-wave and S-wave (seconds) This formula is suited
because 8 seconds is the interval between the time of arrival of the P-wave and S-wave at a distance of 100 km.

2. Choose one of the recording stations and measure the computed distance on the map scale (the scale of the map in
Figure 1 is 1.5 cm: 200 km). Set your compass for that computed distance.

Example:

The computed distance of the epicenter is 600 km. To compute the distance on the map, divide 1.5 cm by 200 km and
multiply the quotient to 600 km. With this computation, the computed distance on the map is equal to 4.5 cm.

Complete the table below.

RECORDING STATION HOW TO COMPUTE THE COMPUTED DISTANCE ON THE MAP (CM)
DISTANCE ON THE MAP

EXAMPLE: BATANGAS 83.2 5.2 CM

PUERTO PRINCESA 56

DAVAO 67.2

EXAMPLE: To compute the distance on the map (CM)

BATANGAS : (83.2 X 100) / 8 = 1040

1040/200 (SINCE 1.5 CM:200)

1040/200 = 5.2 cm
 Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OFFICE OF QUEZON CITY
ERNESTO RONDON HIGH SCHOOL
Road 3, Project 6, Quezon City

__________________________________________________________________________________
3. Center your compass on the station you have chosen. Draw a circle.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the rest of the stations. You should get three circles that intersect or nearly
intersect at a point. This intersection is the epicenter.

Answer the following questions

Q1. Where is the epicenter of this hypothetical earthquake?

Q2. What difficulty will you encounter if you only have data from two recording stations?