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    Nature and Occurrence of Earthquake

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    khristine alfonso
    An earthquake is caused by the sudden release of energy stored in rocks below the earth's surface. As rocks crack and slip past each other along faults, the ground vibrates and large amounts of energy are emitted as waves. Faults can break through the surface or remain deep underground. Earthquakes tend to occur most frequently at the edges of tectonic plates where stress is greatest, but can also happen within plates. The location of initial slip underground is the focus, while the area directly above on the surface is the epicenter.

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    Nature and Occurrence of Earthquake

    Uploaded by

    khristine alfonso
    51 views11 pages
    An earthquake is caused by the sudden release of energy stored in rocks below the earth's surface. As rocks crack and slip past each other along faults, the ground vibrates and large amounts of energy are emitted as waves. Faults can break through the surface or remain deep underground. Earthquakes tend to occur most frequently at the edges of tectonic plates where stress is greatest, but can also happen within plates. The location of initial slip underground is the focus, while the area directly above on the surface is the epicenter.

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    Nature and Occurrence of Earthquake (1)

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    An earthquake is caused by the sudden release of energy stored in rocks below the earth's surface. As rocks crack and slip past each other along faults, the ground vibrates and large amounts of energy are emitted as waves. Faults can break through the surface or remain deep underground. Earthquakes tend to occur most frequently at the edges of tectonic plates where stress is greatest, but can also happen within plates. The location of initial slip underground is the focus, while the area directly above on the surface is the epicenter.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    51 views11 pages

    Nature and Occurrence of Earthquake

    Uploaded by

    khristine alfonso
    An earthquake is caused by the sudden release of energy stored in rocks below the earth's surface. As rocks crack and slip past each other along faults, the ground vibrates and large amounts of energy are emitted as waves. Faults can break through the surface or remain deep underground. Earthquakes tend to occur most frequently at the edges of tectonic plates where stress is greatest, but can also happen within plates. The location of initial slip underground is the focus, while the area directly above on the surface is the epicenter.

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    of 11

    Nature and

    Occurrence of
    Earthquake
    ALFONSO, KHRISTINE DHEL
    BOBADILLA, CRISTOPHER
    DAVID, JOHN PAUL
    An earthquake is sudden ground movement caused
    by the sudden release of energy stored in rocks. Rocks
    crack and slip past each other causing the ground to
    vibrate. The slippage emits large amounts of energy
    in the form of waves that travel through the interior
    of the earth and across the surface.
    Cracks along which rocks slip are called faults; these
    may break through the ground surface, or remain
    deep within the earth.
    Normal Fault. In a normal fault, the block above the fault
    moves down relative to the block below the fault. This fault
    motion is caused by tensional forces and results in extension.
    Reverse Fault. In a reverse fault, the block above the fault
    moves up relative to the block below the fault. This fault motion
    is caused by compression forces and results in shortening. A
    reverse fault is called thrust fault if the dip of the fault plane is
    small.
    Strike-Slip Fault. 21 In a strike-slip fault, the movement of
    blocks along a fault is horizontal. The fault motion of a strike-
    slip fault is caused by shearing forces.
    The location on a fault where slip first occurs is called the
    focus, whereas the position directly above it on the ground
    is called the epicenter.

    Focal depth is the distance between the focus and the


    epicenter, whereas distances of a site from the epicenter
    and focus are known as epicentral and hypocentral
    distances, respectively.
    Stress that causes an earthquake is created by a movement
    of almost rigid plates, called tectonic plates, which fit
    together and make up the outer shell of the Earth (also
    called Earth's crust).
    Earthquakes occur most frequently on or near the edges of
    the plates where stress is most concentrated; such
    earthquakes are called interplate earthquakes. However, a
    significant number of earthquakes, including some large
    and damaging ones, do occur within the plates; these
    earthquakes are known as intraplate earthquakes.
    WHERE DO EARTHQUAKES OCCUR?
    Earthquakes happen along the edges of tectonic plates
    and fault lines.
    There are three large zones on our planet which are
    most susceptible to earthquakes.
    The Pacific Ring of Fire is an earthquake belt that
    experiences 81% of the largest earthquakes in the world.
    17% of the earthquakes of the world take place in the
    Alpide belt.
    The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is also highly vulnerable to
    earthquakes.
    EARTHQUAKES OCCUR ALONG PLATE EDGES

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