Quaking Earth, Racing Waves!

Paragraph 1:
In July 2004 the village school on Tello Island, Indonesia, had a visitor with a startling story to tell. As the students in their red-and-white uniforms sat quietly listening, geologist Kerry Sieh explained that under the ocean, 60 miles from their island, was a ticking time bomb.

Question 1:
According to this paragraph, who visited the school on Tello Island in July 2004?

• A student from another village.

• A teacher with new uniforms.

• A scientist named Kerry Sieh.

• A person who told funny stories.

Paragraph 2:
For hundreds of years, the Sunda Megathrust Fault had been storing energy that would be released in massive undersea earthquakes. The powerful quakes would likely cause tsunamis, fast-moving waves that could wipe out the entire seaside village.

Question 2:
What did Kerry Sieh explain that the Sunda Megathrust Fault had been doing?

• Creating new islands in the ocean.

• Moving slowly without causing any problems.

• Storing up energy that would cause big underwater earthquakes.

• Helping the fish in the ocean.

Paragraph 7:
In the Indian Ocean, big corals called Porites grow from the sea floor to the water's surface, then outward. The ocean floor sinks slowly between earthquakes, dragging the coral down, then rises quickly during a quake, raising the coral up again. Over hundreds of years, all this up and down causes the coral to grow outward in doughnut-shaped rings. Sieh discovered that by looking at the growth patterns of Porites coral heads near the fault, he could pinpoint the dates of past earthquakes, and maybe find a pattern that would help predict future quakes.

Question 3:
How did the growth of the Porites corals help scientists learn about past earthquakes?

• The colors of the coral changed after each earthquake.

• The coral grew in rings that showed when the ground went up and down during earthquakes.

• The size of the coral got smaller after a big earthquake.

• The coral moved to different parts of the ocean after an earthquake.

Paragraph 13:
The ground shook so violently that people were knocked off their feet. Dishes fell from shelves, roofs collapsed, trees toppled. Two minutes after it began, the shaking stopped. It had been the biggest earthquake anywhere on the planet in 40 years.

Question 4:
What happened when the earthquake finally struck the area?

• The ocean waves became very calm.

• The ground shook so hard that people fell down and buildings were damaged.

• It started to snow on the islands.

• Everyone on the islands started to sing.

Make a sentence about: Example sentence about the waves:
" The waves can be very big."

Now, it's your turn. Make a sentence about the islands.

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