Mapping Earthquakes and volcanoes

Mapping Earthquakes and Volcanoes Skills Lab

Guiding Question:  Is there a pattern in the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes? 

Hypothesis:  I think there is a pattern in the location of volcanoes but not for earthquakes because they can happen whenever tectonic plates collide.  I think earthquakes happen more often than volcanoes erupt.

Analysis:

1.      Lots of earthquakes occur underneath the ocean.  Most earthquakes happen between 60N and 40S latitude.  Only one earthquake on the map is in a land locked county.  All of the others seem to be near water.

2.      Many volcanoes occur where land meets water along the coast.  All volcanoes on the map are between 60N and 40S latitude.  Most of the volcanoes are in the Pacific Ocean and Asia.

Conclusion:  Overall I am not certain the map is accurate since it shows the same number of earthquakes and volcanoes.  I’ve read that earthquakes occur every eleven seconds so I suspect there are more earthquakes than volcanoes on Earth.   My hypothesis cannot be proven based on the data given in this lab.  The data does show a pattern of both earthquakes and volcanoes mostly occurring between 60N and 40S latitude.

pic of the map