Science News

Marian is a Winner!!

The College has a research grade seismometer on site as part of the Australian Seismometers in Schools Project.  Every Science week, the project runs a competition for schools who have a seismometer.  MCC has been successful for the past 3 years and this year student prizes were awarded.  Three students Hir Gami, Ishmeet Dhaliwal (absent from photo), Velsi Patel and Freya Patel received a certificate and merchandise from The Australian Seismometers in Schools Project. 

A magnitude ~4.4 earthquake near Boorowa in southern NSW, about 110 km north of Canberra, occurred just after 7 pm local time and was widely felt across NSW and the ACT, with thousands of people reporting the shaking from Canberra to Sydney. Events like this are a good reminder that Australia does experience earthquakes, and even moderate events can be felt over large distances. The earthquake was also clearly recorded by the Australian Seismometers in Schools (AuSIS) network, where research-grade seismometers installed in schools allow students and teachers to observe real seismic waves from real earthquakes in real time. 

The plot below shows the ground motion recorded by nearby AuSIS stations, capturing the seismic waves as they travelled through the Earth. AuSIS is part of AuScope’s national research infrastructure, bringing real Earth science into classrooms while also contributing valuable seismic data for monitoring and research.

Our seismometer is AUGRF and it's the first one in the list. You can clearly see the earthquake vibrations in the seismograph.

Dr Elijah Marshall

Science Teacher