I am a university student in the United States currently pursuing a degree in geology at Marshall University. Afterwards, I plan on pursuing postgraduate studies in seismology and becoming a professional seismologist. I have always had a passion for the earth sciences. Currently, I have a high involvement on campus with Greek life, and various other organizations, including geology club. Aside from that, I have geologically-related hobbies such as rock climbing; mapmaking; personal study and reading of geologic literature; rock and mineral collecting; hiking; running social media followings, especially Instagram pages about, and building businesses around the study of earthquakes to foster education and growth among the general public; and involvement in other geology communities and organizations.
I am relatively new to Wikipedia as of 2020, and do not have the time to provide much value here at the moment, but as my time allows, I can incorporate changes that I can find. My contributions to Wikipedia are usually pertaining to earth sciences, especially seismology and volcanology, but I make it a priority to attend to the legacy of earthquakes that are vitally important and have been largely forgotten about by the public, or neglected by other users. Such earthquakes likely are small to moderately sized, are notable in the region that they occurred, and have a high scientific importance. I will not be writing articles on large earthquakes that occur with notability on par with the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake or the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. I rather prefer the events that will need to be dug up from the visceral depths of history and science to be brought back into the limelight of publicity. Understanding historical events such as these is vital to changing public perception about earthquakes, and the damage that can be wrought from them. With a few major exceptions, all the events that I will be covering will be in North America, and especially east of the Rocky Mountains. For example, a magnitude 5 earthquake that occurred near a town, causing a landslide that killed 30 people or made a significant dent in the locale's housing or infrastructure. Another example could be a magnitude 5 earthquake that was so endemic and dear to a large region and will not be forgotten about in no short period of time, even if there were no fatalities (such earthquakes are more likely to occur where comparable events are rare). Most of my efforts will be placed towards earthquakes in North America, as I am from the U.S. and am more familiar with it. I can provide four examples of such events in the following paragraph.
The first, the 1895 Charleston MO earthquake, wrecked the lower Ohio Valley in the midsection of the country. It had a magnitude in the mid-6 range, making it one of the largest earthquakes to strike east of the Rocky Mountians. Such an event had high notability at the time, however it was lost in history. I intend to create such an article. The second, the 2017 earthquake near Lincoln MT, was the largest earthquake to hit the state in decades, and caused heavy damage in the epicentral region. Such an event is recalled in the minds of locals and will not be lost for some time. The magnitude was 5.8. The third, the 1884 New York City earthquake, magnitude 5.5. This earthquake caused heavy damage in NYC and many injuries. It is widely known and there is much history involved and research done on the event. As a result, it is one of the most notable earthquakes that I have seen overlooked on Wikipedia. The fourth, the very recent earthquake near the Alaska Peninsula in July of 2020, is one of the most notable seismic events of the year. Aside from being the largest of 2020, as of August 9, at magnitude 7.8, there is a lot of scientific importance behind this earthquake. Even though there were no casualties, there was damage in local towns. There was wide media publicity, and an initial tsunami warning. The 2018 Gulf of Alaska Earthquake, on which there is an article, is very similar in size and notability, without scientific importance counted in. With July's earthquake having higher scientific importance, it is more notable.
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