Earthquakes

Earthquakes

Anthony Ingrassia

SCI/245

October 9th, 2011

Jonathan Drasdis

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are something that society has to deal with and even though the majority of them go unnoticed by the general population, there are the few that have life changing impacts on many. Despite modern societies attempt to prepare for, or even predict earthquakes they are a force of nature that we have no control over and can only hope for the best when they hit, especially when they hit hard and in highly populated areas. For a better understanding of earthquakes we must look at the Earth itself and the movement that takes place inside.

The Earth has plates that are in constant motion, all be it slow, and these plates are responsible for earthquakes. There are plate margins that occur when there is some type of interaction between two plates. One is called a divergent margin and this where there are two plates that are actually moving apart from one another. This can happen either on land or under the ocean or sea, on land this separation can create valleys and on the sea floor it causes rifts that can lead to the creation of new sea floor. Another is the convergent margins which is the opposite of the divergent margin in the respect that the plates move towards each other. This interaction leads to the creation of mountains on land and to the creation of deep trenches in the oceans and seas. Then there is the transform fault margin where the plates slide next to one another as they pass.

The transform faults are where we have the potential for earthquakes. This is due to the stress that can build up as the plates slide past on another. Friction causes the rocks to grind into each other and potentially lock up leading to a build-up of energy. When the lock up reaches its breaking point all of that energy is released instantly which leads to an earthquake. These plates never stop moving, or trying to move in the event of a lock up and that is why earthquakes are...