Earthquakes by Nergis Aşar

Natural disasters, including earthquakes, with their great power, can have devastating effects on a massive scale. This work examines the earthquakes that have occurred worldwide between the years 1999 to 2023. However, the data visualization commenced following the earthquakes that took place in Turkey during February 2023. For this reason, the examined data does not cover all of 2023. The visualized data was sourced from the earthquake catolog of USGS.
Based on the depth and magnitude data of the earthquakes, the thirty closest to surface and the thirty with the highest magnitude of the 7.5 and above earthquakes were selected and visualized. The visualization focuses on five parameters. These are the magnitude and the depth of the earthquake, the year of occurrence, the tectonic plates on which the earthquake occurred and the location of the earthquake.
The visual was designed as two parts system: the upper half and the lower half. The bold line in the middle of the visual serves dual purpose: a divider, and the indicator of ground level. Therefore, the depth information which was indicated with the line length and the magnitude information which was represented with the circle sizes, placed below this bold line that marks the ground level. Color coding was used for indicating the tectonic plates that were associated with the earthquake. In the case of an earthquake occurring in multiple plates, a gradient was created with the colors of the tectonic plates. The location was pinpointed with a small circle on the map which also serves as a starting point of the lines that leads to the detailed information about each earthquake.