Earthquakes

Running Head : EARTHQUAKE IN THE WORLD

Earthquake in Focus : The World Shaking in its Core

Name of Student

University of Student

Dr . Klee

GEO 110

Abstract

Earthquake is a natural phenomenon which results from the movement of the crust underneath the earth 's surface . This can also be attributed to volcanic activities . Some factors contributing to the intensity of an earthquake are soil type , site effect and fault lines . Magnitude and intensity can be used to describe the impact of an earthquake . There are numerous catastrophic earthquakes recorded

in history . These involved magnitudes of the quake as high as 9 . Death toll also reached up to 800 ,000 . Continuous studies are being made by seismologists to better understand this phenomenon

Earthquake in Focus : The World Shaking in its Core

The earth is a living planet . It continuously to change , evolve and move . Through time , the planet earth experiences a number of ground shaking events known as earthquakes . Since time immemorial , earthquakes had been an important driving force for shaping and dictating the face of this world

In this , this phenomenon will be studied and discussed in detail . The classification of earthquakes will also be given and enumerated . The measurement used to determine the intensity of earthquakes will also be examined . The significance of this event will also be provided

Introduction : Facts about Earthquake

Defining earthquake

Earthquake is defined as any vibrating , jarring , rolling , jolting rocking or shaking movement of the crust of the earth due to any of the following reasons : shifting or breaking of stressed rocks underneath the surface of the earth releasing massive amount of energy in the process or even by volcanic activity . This is possible because the earth is made up of many strata of plates that are continuously and constantly moving and pushing each other underneath the earth 's surface . The specific location of these moving plates is what is known as a fault line . In addition to that , a fault is considered to be a fracture in the earth 's crust , with rocks displaced at one side of the plate , with the other side remaining static . Faults are formed from repeated displacement of these rocks through long periods of time . A site of a fault line can be a starting point of another fault line , since this is a zone with a weakened crust . Many famous fault lines can be enumerated in the world One famous example of this is California (Lund , 2003 . Predicting earthquakes

Scientists were able to device a scheme in predicting when an earthquake is most likely to occur . One of this is by determining the fault lines scattered all over the world . The boundaries between the crustal plates of the earth are also a major determinant in predicting the frequency of an earthquake . It was recorded that 90 of the recorded earthquakes in the world happened in the meeting point of these crustal plates (U .S Geological Survey , 2004 . Another factor to consider is the behaviour of animals , as...