Chart assignment
Charts to read and discuss
Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.
Chart 1 of 1 · Earthquakes
How many major earthquakes happen each year?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
The world had 16 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or more in 2025. Since 1900 the yearly count has ranged from 4 in 1930 to 24 in 2010, with no lasting rise. Quakes this strong are recorded wherever they strike, so even early counts are fairly complete; magnitudes before the 1960s are scientists' later estimates from old seismograms.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: U.S. Geological Survey, ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat) (Public domain (U.S. government work); source U.S. Geological Survey) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
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