The Causes Of Earthquakes On The Surface Of The Earth

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An earthquake is the shaking of the surface of the earth. Earthquakes can also be called quakes, tremors, or temblors. The strength of an earthquake can range from being barely felt to being violent enough to take down entire cities.
An earthquake is caused by two tectonic plates suddenly slip past each other and cause the shaking of the ground. The spot at which the two plates slip past each other is called a fault or fault plate. The area below the earth’s surface where the earthquake starts is called the hypocenter. The spot directly above the hypocenter, and on the surface, is called the epicenter. An earthquake can also have foreshocks. Foreshocks are smaller earthquakes that are in the same place as the larger earthquake which follows …show more content…

The crust and the upper mantle are composed of many pieces, almost like a puzzle, these pieces are called tectonic plates. The tectonic plates are constantly moving; sliding past and bumping into one another. The movement of the tectonic plates is caused by the motion. There are oceanic and continental plates. Most earthquakes that arise are along the tectonic plate boundaries.
Another place where earthquakes can develop is on faults. Faults are cracks in the earth where a section of a plate (or plates) are moving in different directions. There are three different types of faults; normal, reverse and strike slip-faults. In normal faults, a block of rock is moving downward and away from another rock block. In reverse faults, one block of rock is being pushed up while another is being pushed down. Strike-slip faults are cracks between two plates is sliding past each other.
The hypocenter, where the earthquake starts, sends out shock waves that may be powerful enough to alter the surface of the earth by creating cliffs and opening up large cracks in the ground. Earthquakes can also cause lots of damage. They can collapse buildings and other manmade structures, break power, water and gas lines, cause landslides, snow avalanches tsunamis and cause volcanoes to

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