User Guide

Welcome to the Earthquake Catalogue Platform User Guide. This comprehensive guide will help you master all aspects of uploading, managing, analyzing, and visualizing earthquake catalogue data.

Overview

The Earthquake Catalogue Platform is a modern, web-based application designed for seismologists, researchers, and data analysts working with earthquake data. Whether you’re maintaining operational catalogues, conducting research, or analyzing historical seismicity, this platform provides the tools you need.

Key Capabilities

Data Import

Upload earthquake data in CSV, JSON, GeoJSON, or QuakeML formats with automatic format detection and parsing

Live Integration

Import real-time earthquake data from GeoNet’s FDSN Event Web Service with configurable filters and duplicate detection

Catalogue Merging

Combine multiple catalogues with automated duplicate detection and four different conflict resolution strategies

Quality Assessment

Automatic quality scoring (A+ to F grades) based on location uncertainty, network geometry, and solution parameters

Visualization

Interactive Leaflet maps with uncertainty ellipses, focal mechanisms, station coverage, and quality color-coding

Analytics

Gutenberg-Richter b-value analysis, completeness magnitude estimation, temporal patterns, and statistical summaries

Export

Download catalogues in CSV, QuakeML, JSON, or GeoJSON formats with complete metadata preservation

Quick Start

Already familiar with earthquake catalogues? Here’s the fastest path to get started:

  1. Install: Clone repo, run npm install, configure .env

  2. Start: Run npm run dev, open http://localhost:3000

  3. Upload: Go to /upload, drag-drop your CSV/QuakeML file

  4. View: Navigate to /catalogues to see your data on the map

For detailed instructions, continue to Getting Started.

What You’ll Learn

This user guide is organized into seven main sections:

Section

Description

Getting Started

Installation, configuration, and running your first session

Uploading Data

Upload earthquake data in various formats with field mapping

Importing from GeoNet

Import data from GeoNet’s FDSN service with filters

Merging Catalogues

Combine catalogues with duplicate detection and conflict resolution

Visualization

Interactive maps, charts, and seismological analytics

Exporting Data

Download catalogues in CSV, QuakeML, JSON, or GeoJSON

Quality Assessment

Understand quality grades and filtering by metrics

Supported Formats

The platform supports the following earthquake data formats:

Format

Extensions

Description

CSV/TXT

.csv, .txt

Delimited text files with automatic delimiter detection (comma, tab, semicolon, pipe, space). Supports multiple date formats including ISO 8601, US (MM/DD/YYYY), and international (DD/MM/YYYY).

JSON

.json

Array of event objects or {events: [...]} structure. All standard earthquake fields supported with nested uncertainty objects.

GeoJSON

.geojson, .json

FeatureCollection with Point geometries. Coordinates follow GeoJSON convention [longitude, latitude, depth]. Properties contain event metadata.

QuakeML

.xml, .qml

QuakeML 1.2 BED (Basic Event Description) format. Full support for origins, magnitudes, picks, arrivals, and focal mechanisms.

Required Fields

All earthquake events must include these minimum fields:

  • time - Origin time (ISO 8601 or parseable date/time)

  • latitude - Decimal degrees (-90 to 90)

  • longitude - Decimal degrees (-180 to 180)

  • magnitude - Event magnitude (-2 to 10)

Optional fields like depth, magnitude type, uncertainties, and quality metrics enhance the usefulness of your data.

Platform at a Glance

        flowchart TD
    subgraph Inputs ["Data Ingestion"]
        Upload["UPLOAD<br/>(CSV, JSON, QuakeML)"]
        Import["IMPORT<br/>(GeoNet FDSN)"]
    end

    subgraph Core ["Core Platform"]
        Merge["MERGE & DEDUPE"]
        Store["MONGODB STORAGE"]
        Quality["QUALITY ASSESSMENT"]
    end

    subgraph Outputs ["Analysis & Export"]
        Analytics["ANALYTICS<br/>(Maps, Charts, Stats)"]
        Export["EXPORT<br/>(CSV, QuakeML, GeoJSON)"]
    end

    Upload --> Quality
    Import --> Quality
    Quality --> Merge
    Merge --> Store

    Store --> Analytics
    Store --> Export

Next Steps

Ready to begin? Head over to Getting Started to install and configure the platform, then Uploading Data to load your first earthquake catalogue.

Tip

If you’re new to earthquake catalogues, start with the Glossary to familiarize yourself with seismological terminology used throughout this documentation.