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Searching for Local and Distant Blast Events
Proposed Student Research Project
IU PEPP Summer Session, 2002
Developed
by John Pokorney
Pioneer High
School
Royal Center, IN
I am proposing that a few (less than 5) Pioneer High School Juniors or Seniors participate in a year-long independent study scientific research project. The selected students should have taken, or be taking concurrently, both Physics and Earth Space Science. I envision this being conducted as a Level 3 research project as enumerated by Jeff Sayers during the IU PEPP teacher workshop held during the summer of 2002. Students would be able to select their own area of research or may opt to follow a research proposal of my choosing. The focus of this research would be to study PEPP data from the Pioneer seismic station (PPPHS) as well as other PEPP stations.
My area of interest is to have students attempt to locate signals from blast
events from southern Indiana quarries and/or mines. Students would need to coordinate
with students at other schools in southern Indiana or with professors at Indiana
University to determine when blast events have occurred. Following an event,
students would need to access data files from the PPPHS seismometer. Using WinQuake,
students would need to apply appropriate filtering techniques to search for
the high-frequency signals associated with blast events.
Students would need time outside their regularly scheduled classes to work together.
This time could occur before school, during a shared study time, or after school.
It would be useful for the students to participate in the IU PEPP Student Symposium
held in the fall of 2002 and again in the spring of 2003.
There are many potential limiting factors for student participation/success.
Among these are the limited number of potential students (there are only about
150 Juniors and Seniors at Pioneer High School), the smaller pool of students
who have taken or are taking Physics and Earth Space Science, the even smaller
pool of students who have both the interest in such a research project and the
free time to participate in such a project (so many of our ‘better’
students are also the ones who are involved in many of the athletic teams, musical
groups, or extra-curricular activities that take place at our school).
An additional limiting factor comes from the fact that the PPPHS seismometer
is significantly ‘noisy’. Also, the PPPHS seismometer is approximately
150 miles, or more, north of the many quarries in southern Indiana. Signals
may not be detectable even if appropriate filtering is applied. I have thought
of a couple of ways around this obstacle. First, there are several active limestone
quarries in northern Indiana. There is one just at the south edge of Logansport
that is only 10 miles away from the PPPHS seismometer. There is another south
of Monon that is about 30 miles away, another near Delphi that is about 40 miles
away and another near Kentland that is about 60 miles away. There may be additional
locations that I am unaware of. It may be possible to contact these quarries
to determine if they have a blast schedule. Perhaps blasts from these quarries
could be detected. Another possibility, although much less desirable, would
be to use data from another PEPP station in southern Indiana which is closer
to the blast sites.
It would be nice if students could receive credit for their efforts, but I would
need to get a ‘new’ course approved that meets one of the ‘correct’
courses on the state list of allowed courses. I’m not sure if this could
be accomplished this fall. The course for credit may have to wait until next
school year. Students would receive recognition for their work by participation
in the IUPEPP Student Symposium in the spring. Also, students would have the
opportunity to publish their work through the HASTI journal or through the Indiana
Academy of Sciences.