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Earthquake: From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Earthquakes are caused by the sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that generates seismic waves. They can range from undetectable to powerful enough to destroy cities. Earthquakes are measured on scales such as the Moment Magnitude and Richter scales, with larger quakes over magnitude 5 reported globally. The location and depth of an earthquake determines the amount of damage, with shallower quakes causing more damage. Earthquakes can trigger tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. They are usually caused by geological faults rupturing, but can also be triggered by other events such as volcanic activity or explosions.

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38 views2 pages

Earthquake: From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Earthquakes are caused by the sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that generates seismic waves. They can range from undetectable to powerful enough to destroy cities. Earthquakes are measured on scales such as the Moment Magnitude and Richter scales, with larger quakes over magnitude 5 reported globally. The location and depth of an earthquake determines the amount of damage, with shallower quakes causing more damage. Earthquakes can trigger tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. They are usually caused by geological faults rupturing, but can also be triggered by other events such as volcanic activity or explosions.

Uploaded by

Francisco Armas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Earthquake

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An earthquake is the shaking of the surface of the Earth, resulting from


the sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that
creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in size from those that are
so weak that they cannot be felt to those violent enough to toss people
around and destroy whole cities. The seismicity or seismic activity of an
area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced
over a period of time.

Earthquakes are measured using measurements from seismometers.


The moment magnitude is the most common scale on which earthquakes
larger than approximately 5 are reported for the entire globe. The more
numerous earthquakes smaller than magnitude 5 reported by national
seismological observatories are measured mostly on the local magnitude
scale, also referred to as the Richter magnitude scale. These two scales
are numerically similar over their range of validity. Magnitude 3 or lower
earthquakes are mostly imperceptible or weak and magnitude 7 and over
potentially cause serious damage over larger areas, depending on their
depth. The largest earthquakes in historic times have been of magnitude
slightly over 9, although there is no limit to the possible magnitude.
Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale. The
shallower an earthquake, the more damage to structures it causes, all else
being equal.[1]

At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and


sometimes displacement of the ground. When the epicenter of a large
earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced sufficiently to
cause a tsunami. Earthquakes can also trigger landslides, and
occasionally volcanic activity.

In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any


seismic event — whether natural or caused by humans — that generates
seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of
geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity,
landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests. An earthquake's point of initial
rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The epicenter is the point at
ground level directly above the hypocenter.

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