How do earthquakes occur?Earthquakes occur when the tectonic plates underneath the Earth's crust hit against each other and cause what are called 'seismic vibrations'. They are very destructive and can cause world wide terror. Tectonic plates are the plates underneath the earth's crust. They are kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, fitting together with ragged edges. When the plates collide, the seismic vibrations cause rock to stress and break. This results in the shaking of the Earth's crust and damage throughout the continent. On land, the tectonic plates of the Earth push against each other, causing the Earth's crust to push upwards or break. This can cause hills and valleys. Earthquakes often happen along fault lines like the San-Andreas fault line in California. There are many other faults along side this fault, but the San Andreas fault is the largest of them all. It measures roughly 1300 km long and is at least 10 miles deep. You could fit at least 100,000,000 potatoes in this fault. That is a lot of potatoes.
Word count: 167 words. |
This video should help explain more about how an earthquake occurs.