What causes earthquakes?

What causes earthquakes?

---

Around the world, we experience earthquakes, some more countries than others, but why is this?

We know that an earthquake that causes the ground to move can cause the destruction of our built up areas.

But what caused them in the first place?

In this article, we will look at the causes of earthquakes around the globe.

What is an earthquake?

An earthquake is the vibration of the earth when the surface begins to move due to a sudden release of energy.

This sudden release is also known as a seismic wave due to the sudden movement or disruption of underground rock.

Most earthquakes occur where tectonic plates meet or fault lines meet, but they can also be caused by volcanoes, landslides, and explosions.

They occur especially when there is a sudden movement of rocks in the earth's lithosphere.

One example from a volcano is when pressure builds up below the surface, it needs to be released and this sudden explosion can cause seismic waves, leading to earthquakes.

What are fault lines related to earthquakes?

Fault lines are where the rock plates below the Earth's surface are fractured.

Fault lines can vary considerably;

The state of California has some of the largest fault lines in the United States, with seven major fault lines located in the San Francisco Bay area.

These fissures on the earth's surface mean that when there is any movement from the tectonic plates, the sediment from the rock is likely to break off and cause an earthquake.

As the fault lines get bigger, so does the earthquake.

In California, for example, if there is a slight movement between the Pacific and North American plates, this can cause motion and break the rocks with fault lines.

What are seismic waves?

Seismic waves are the name of the energy that travels through the earth's layers when a sudden movement occurs.

We have recorded earthquakes for more than 4,000 years now and they use a seismometer to measure these energy waves today.

It does this by recording movements and vibrations on the ground.

It is not only used for locating and predicting earthquakes, but also used to study the inner structure of the earth.

In a nutshell, it works to measure the earth's upward and downward motion, using a weight attached to a spring that moves up and down depending on the vibrational movement in the ground.

A pen is attached to record these movements on paper as the weight moves.

What is shivering?

You may have heard the term "shock" instead of an earthquake.

It is the term used to describe a earthquake that is not caused by an earthquake, so anything under a certain size.

They can sometimes be signs of an impending earthquake and are called foreshadowing.

However, they are not reliable indicators that something bigger is on the way.

How do I measure an earthquake?

Earthquakes are measured in magnitude using the Richter scale.

Charles Richter invented the Richter scale in 1935, and it became a popular method for measuring the strength of an earthquake.

The Richter scale is a set of numbers used to show the strength of an earthquake and is a logarithmic scale.

For example, an earthquake of magnitude 3.0 has the magnitude of an earthquake of magnitude 10 times that of an earthquake of magnitude 2.0.

The scale is used in conjunction with a seismometer that can detect earthquakes from about 62 miles (100 km).

Amplitude increases by a factor of 10 for each level on the Richter scale.

Is the Richter scale only used to measure earthquakes?

The scale itself can be used to decide how powerful any action has an impact on the earth's surface.

An example of this can be seen throughout certain events in history that were recorded using scales.

For example, both the atomic bomb explosion in Nagasaki and an earthquake in Lancashire, UK in 2008 measure equally on the Richter scale.

Both events measured an magnitude of approximately 5 degrees Richter, suggesting that 32 kiloton of seismic energy was recorded during these actions.

Which country has the most earthquakes?

Japan has experienced the most earthquakes on record.

This is because Japan is on one of the most seismic-prone places in the world.

The densest seismic network in the world lies below Japan, meaning it is more likely to have earthquakes than other regions.

What is the most deadly earthquake to date?

You might think that the deadliest earthquake of all time would be the biggest, but not always.

Historically, the deadliest earthquake recorded was in China on January 23, 1556 AD, in Shaanxi province.

The strong earthquake killed about 830,000 people.

When the Richter scale was invented in the 1930s, scientists predicted how intense this earthquake could be.

The results from the prediction show that it will be between 8.0 and 8.3 on Richter scale.

Other factors for its scale can make an earthquake more deadly, things like its surroundings and safety that will reflect the number of people dying from an earthquake.

What is the biggest earthquake?

The largest recorded earthquake was the Valdivia earthquake in Chile in 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5.

The quake caused a tsunami, killing in total about 5,700 people.

The second largest recorded earthquake was the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that caused the tsunami.

It measures a magnitude of 9.3 and it eventually killed around 230,000 people across India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia.

Earthquakes are the result of the earth's layers undergoing sudden motion, causing energy to accumulate to create seismic waves.

It is impossible to get rid of these monstrous acts of nature but there is a lot we can do to prepare them.

As technology has evolved, our ability to measure, predict, and prepare for earthquakes has grown stellar in recent years.

This means that in most cases earthquakes don't cause as much destruction to humanity as they did, but there's still no reason to ignore them.

As long as the earth continues to move, we will always have an earthquake.