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Damage from the San Francisco, California earthquake, sometime in 1906.

An earthquake is the sudden movement of the Earth's tectonic plates, resulting in shaking of the ground. This shaking can result in the damage of various structures such as buildings and further breakdown of the Earth's surface.

The study of earthquakes is called seismology.[1] There can be many earthquakes over a short time frame in a small area. The sudden release of tension in the tectonic plates sends waves of energy that travel through the Earth. Seismology studies the cause, frequency, type and size of earthquakes.

Earthquakes are measured using observations from seismographs. The magnitude of an earthquake and the intensity of shaking is usually reported on the Richter scale. The Richter Scale was invented by Charles Francis Richter in 1935. On the scale, 2 is scarcely noticeable, and magnitude 5 (or more) causes damage over a wide area.

An earthquake under the ocean can cause a tsunami, which can cause just as much destruction as the earthquake itself in mountainous areas. Earthquakes can also cause landslides. Earthquakes are part of the Earth's natural rock cycle. The impact of an earthquake can be measured by a seismometer. It detects the vibrations caused and it puts these movements on a seismograph. The strength, or magnitude, of an earthquake, is measured using the Richter scale. The Richter scale is numbered 0-9. The largest earthquake ever measured was a 9.5 on the scale a 10 has never been recorded.

Scientists cannot predict an earthquake before it happens. But we do know where earthquakes might happen in the future, like close to fault lines. An earthquake under the ocean can cause a tsunami, this can cause just as much destruction as the earthquake itself.



Causes of an earthquake



Earthquake fault types


Earthquake clusters







File:20110311Houshu.ogv Tsunami or a chain of fast moving waves in the ocean caused by powerful earthquakes is a very serious challenge for people's safety and for earthquake engineering. Those waves can inundate coastal areas, destroy houses and even swipe away whole towns.[7] This is a danger for the whole mankind.






  2. 2.0 2.1 "What are aftershocks, foreshocks, and earthquake clusters?". https://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/step/explain.php. 
  3. "Repeating earthquakes". United States Geological Survey. January 29, 2009. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/parkfield/repeat.php. Retrieved May 11, 2009. 
  4. "Earthquake swarms at Yellowstone". USGS. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/2004/Apr04Swarm.html. Retrieved 2008-09-15. 
  5. Amos Nur (2000). "Poseidon’s horses: plate tectonics and earthquake storms in the late Bronze Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean". Journal of Archaeological Science 27: 43–63. doi:10.1006/jasc.1999.0431 . ISSN 0305-4403 . http://water.stanford.edu/nur/EndBronzeage.pdf. 
  6. "Earthquake storms". Horizon (BBCtv series). 1 April 2003. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/earthquakestorms.shtml. Retrieved 2007-05-02. 
  8. Pacific Tsunamy Warning Center

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