Geography - Earthquake Flashcards
Fault line
Movement occurs along here.
Focus
Exact point beneath the Earth’s surface where the plates shift.
Epicentre
Point directly above the focus on the Earth’s surface.
Fault scarp
The steep exposed rock face.
Fault
Crack in the Earth’s crust resulting form the movement of rock.
Wave fronts
Seismic waves releasign energy throught the crust.
Seismic waves
A wave of energy generated by an earthquake.
P waves
Primary waves
S waves
Secondary waves
What are S wave?
They travel at slightly slower speeds and are the second set of seismic waves recoded on seismographs.
They are more damaging/ destructive/ travel slowly and cause the ground to shake/ wobble.
What are P wave?
They arrive at seismic reporting stations first.
They only occur underground/ less damaging waves that travel quickly through solids and liquids
Types of waves
- S waves
- P waves
What causes earthquakes?
- Divergent plate boundaries cause tension to build up in crust.
- Volcanoes : The sudden release of molten minerals through a crack in the earth’s crust.
Richter scale
Method to allocate a magnitude number to qualify the energy released by an earthquake.
