Earthquakes
You see the dishes on the shelf shaking, the ground starts rumbling! you run under the table to hide, it finally stops. You have just experienced an earthquake! What caused the earthquake? How strong was it? Loads of questions are circling in your head. Well if you would like to find the answer to those questions you have come to the right place. Here you will find what causes the earthquake, the types of waves that are involved in an earthquake and what faults are.
Three Types of Waves.
There are three certain types of waves that are involved in an earthquake, the first one is called the Primary wave, or for short P wave. The P wave is the smallest and fastest wave of the three, it always happens when an earthquake occurs, the P wave will probably only rattle some dishes on a shelf, it is a warning that the earthquake is coming. This wave can go through solids, liquids and gases. The second type of wave is called the secondary wave or S wave this wave is slower than the P wave but stronger, unlike the P wave this wave can only go through solids. The last wave is called the surface wave this wave is the slowest yet most destructive of the three but this wave doesn't always happen, the focus is where the earthquake starts and an epicenter is the place on the surface above the focus so depending on how deep the epicenter is the surface wave won't always happen.
Faults.
There are three types of faults:
Normal Fault: This fault occurs on a divergent boundary, the rock that is above the fault moves down.
Reverse Fault: The reverse fault occurs where there is a convergent boundary, the rock above the fault is pushed upwards.
Strike-Slip Fault: This type of fault occurs on a transform boundary, these rocks are moving past each other building up energy as they do then eventually they break free resulting in a earthquake.
Normal Fault: This fault occurs on a divergent boundary, the rock that is above the fault moves down.
Reverse Fault: The reverse fault occurs where there is a convergent boundary, the rock above the fault is pushed upwards.
Strike-Slip Fault: This type of fault occurs on a transform boundary, these rocks are moving past each other building up energy as they do then eventually they break free resulting in a earthquake.
Richter Scale
A Richter Scale is what they use to find the magnitude of an earthquake (how powerful it was) the scale goes from less then 3.5 to, 3.5 being the least harmful and 9 being the most harmful.
The Ring Of Fire
The ring of fire has 75% of the the dormant and active volcanoes in the world. Earthquakes also occur in the ring of fire. The ring of fire has an arc from New Zealand, the eastern edge of Asia, north across the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and south along the coast of North and South America.