On October 17, 1989 at 5:04 P.M., a major earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay area. The earthquake was nicknamed the World Series Earthquake because it occurred just before a World Series baseball game was scheduled to begin in Candlestick Park. Millions of people witnessed the motion of the earthquake on television. Sixty-seven people lost their lives, and property damage was estimated at $6 billion.

  !   Click each image to see some of the destruction caused by this earthquake.

Damage from the earthquake was widespread, but the actual location of the earthquake (the epicenter) was reported almost immediately. With damage all around, how could geologists accurately identify the epicenter of the earthquake?

In this investigation, you'll see an example of how the World Series Earthquake's epicenter was located; then you'll use data from another earthquake in California to locate its epicenter.