Summary:
- The epicenter of the 2011 Japan earthquake was just offshore of Sendai.
- This is where the Pacific Plate plunges into a subduction zone.
- The earthquake had a relatively shallow depth of 20 miles (32 km) How do scientists find an earthquake epicenter?
- One seismogram indicates the distance to the epicenter.
- The longer the time is between the P-and S-wave arrivals, the further away the earthquake was from the seismograph.
- The interception of the three circles is the epiccenter.