Tectonic City Builder

Earth & Environmental Science • Plate Tectonics Simulation

Choose your tectonic setting

You are the chief planner. Build a functional city — housing, hospitals, schools, power, commerce — while protecting it from the geology underneath. Each setting produces different hazards. The same building, with the same technology, can survive in one place and be destroyed in another. That's the science you're learning.

Budget: $1.5M • Goal: Save lives, keep critical infrastructure standing, spend wisely.

Convergent Boundary

Cascadia Coast

A Pacific coastline above a subduction zone. The seafloor plate is diving beneath the continent. Stress is building.

  • Megathrust earthquake (M9)
  • Tsunami waves following the quake
  • Liquefaction in soft sediment
Transform Boundary

San Andreas Crossing

A growing inland city crossed by a major strike-slip fault. Two plates are sliding past each other. The fault line is visible.

  • Strike-slip earthquake (M7.8)
  • Surface rupture along the fault
  • Strong shaking citywide
Hotspot

Volcano Island

A volcanic island over a mantle hotspot. The active shield volcano dominates one side; prevailing winds carry ash the other way.

  • Lava flows from the summit
  • Ashfall downwind
  • Small volcanic earthquakes

Budget Remaining$1,500,000
Buildings Placed0
Population Housed0
Critical Infrastructure0/3

Buildings

Tech Upgrades

Click a placed building to select it, then add tech.

City Systems

Goal: place at least 1 hospital, 1 school, 1 power plant, and housing. Then run the simulation.
Hover a tile to preview its hazards. Click a placed building to inspect and add tech.

Scenario Reference

Hazard Glossary

Final Score
Grade
People Saved
Buildings Intact

Score Breakdown

What Happened To Each Building

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