earth science

Matsushiro earthquake swarm

Matsushiro earthquake swarm is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Matsushiro earthquake swarm rather than just read about it. In short: The Matsushiro earthquake swarm (Japanese: 松代群発地震) was an earthquake swarm that occurred near Matsushiro, a suburb of Nagano, to the northwest of Tokyo in 1965. The event is one of the best ever documented earthquake swarms.

Key takeaways

Matsushiro earthquake swarm belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Matsushiro earthquake swarm to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Matsushiro earthquake swarm from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Matsushiro earthquake swarm (Japanese: 松代群発地震) was an earthquake swarm that occurred near Matsushiro, a suburb of Nagano, to the northwest of Tokyo in 1965. The event is one of the best ever documented earthquake swarms.

Overview The Matsushiro swarm lasted from 1965 to 1967 and generated about 1 million earthquakes. The total sum of energy from all the tremors was approximately equivalent to an M6.4 earthquake. This swarm had the peculiarity to be sited just under a seismological observatory installed in 1947 in a decommissioned military tunnel. It began in August 1965 with three earthquakes too weak to be felt, but three months later, a hundred earthquakes could be felt daily. On 17 April 1966, the observatory recorded 6,780 earthquakes, with 585 of them having a magnitude large enough to be felt, which meant that one earthquake could be felt every 2 minutes 30 seconds on average. The phenomenon was clearly identified as linked to a magma uplift, perhaps initiated by the 1964 Niigata earthquake which happened one year before.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Matsushiro earthquake swarm

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Matsushiro earthquake swarm claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Matsushiro earthquake swarm before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Matsushiro earthquake swarm ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Matsushiro earthquake swarm

In research: Matsushiro earthquake swarm appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Matsushiro earthquake swarm in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Matsushiro earthquake swarm is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1965 earthquakes, 1965 in Japan, 1966 earthquakes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Matsushiro earthquake swarm outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Matsushiro earthquake swarm in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Matsushiro earthquake swarm means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Matsushiro earthquake swarm out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Matsushiro earthquake swarm in simple terms?

Why does Matsushiro earthquake swarm matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Matsushiro earthquake swarm?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Matsushiro earthquake swarm.