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Asked by emilythenerd to James V on 25 Jun 2012.
Question: what is an earthquake?
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James Verdon answered on 25 Jun 2012:
Hi emilythenerd,
Earthquakes occur when two tectonic plates are sliding against each other along a fault. Because the faults are not smooth, they cannot just easily slide past each other – instead they stick and then slip. This means that they stick together and don’t move, building up energy. Finally, when too much energy has built up, the fault breaks, rupturing and all the accumulated energy is released at once. That is what an earthquake is
Comments
Davie commented on :
Hi,
An earthquake is the sudden release of strain energy in the Earth’s crust resulting in waves of shaking that radiate outwards from the earthquake source. When stresses in the crust exceed the strength of the rock, it breaks along lines of weakness, either a pre-existing or new fault plane. The point where an earthquake starts is termed the focus or hypocentre and may be many kilometres deep within the earth. The point at the surface directly above the focus is called the earthquake epicentre.
leggooo commented on :
i predict an earthquake up in here…
emilythenerd commented on :
i love labrinth <3
🙂