Earthquakes

Question 1

What is an earthquake?

Answer 1

An earthquake is the sudden movement and shaking of the earth, caused by the movement of the plates of the crust

Question 2

What is a fault line?

Answer 2

When plates move, the rock suddenly breaks and slips along a crack called a fault line e.g. San Andreas Fault (1906) San Francisco earthquakes

Question 3

What is a focus?

Answer 3

The point inside the earths crust where the earthquake starts is called the focus

Question 4

What is a tremor?

Answer 4

Tremors are shockwaves that travel out from the focus

Question 5

What is the epicentre?

Answer 5

The place on the earths surface directly above the focus is called the epicentre. Most damage is done here

Question 6

What are aftershocks?

Answer 6

Sometimes the shaken crust then tries to return to its original state and this is felt as a series of aftershocks, which happen in the hours, weeks and months after the earthquke

Question 7

Earthquakes occur where?

Answer 7

• Plates collide
• (Separate) very weak earthquakes
• Slide past each other

Question 8

Describe the Richter scale

Answer 8

• Scale runs from 0-10
• Under 4.0 are weak and rarely felt
• 6.0 causes major damage
• 7.0 and above causes significant damage over large areas
• 9.0 is the largest earthquakes ever recorded (Chile 1960)

Question 9

Where is the location of earthquakes?

Answer 9

• Pacific Ring of Fire
• Himalayas
• The Mediterranean

Question 10

What is magnitude?

Answer 10

Magnitude is the strength of an earthquake e.g. 7.1