One of the worst natural disasters in United States history to this date occurred almost 109 years ago. On April 18, 1906 at 5:15am in San Francisco, California, the earthquake of San Francisco occurred hitting between 7.9 and 8.3M on the Richter scale. The San Andreas Fault, which is about 600 miles long, running from the Gulf of California to Cape Mendocino and is an active strike-slip fault, cut through the continental lithosphere to cause the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. An earthquake is a trembling or shaking of the ground produced by movements along a fault (Strahler, 2012). After the tension is released at a critical point, the fault or tectonic plate slips and relieves the strain and creates the seismic waves, which radiates out in all directions causing the shaking of the surface.
Earthquakes occur almost all over the world and often cause many casualties and injuries, but it is a common misconception to think that all earthquakes or even most of them cause destruction. In fact, most earthquakes aren’t even strong enough to be felt by humans and most animals, and can only be recorded by seismometers that are strategically placed in all corners of the world in order to get a reliable and precise reading on the earthquakes strength. Another common misconception about earthquakes is that people believe that the injuries and deaths that result from earthquakes are because of the earth’s shaking itself, whereas it is in fact usually because of heavy items falling from the incessant vibrations. Earthquakes can be defined as
An earthquake can be defined as vibrations produced in the earth's crust. Tectonic plates have friction between them which
Earthquakes happen when two tectonic plates touch each other. When those plates experience tension and friction, they lock up, preventing any kind of movement. As soon as the pressure is suddenly released, an earthquake can occur. The phenomenon of rock breaking along a fault can cause the ground to shake because of the release of energy being given off in the form of seismic waves (“Earthquakes”).
Earthquakes, by Webster’s dictionary definition, are, “a shaking or trembling of the earth that is volcanic or tectonic in origin.” World Book Encyclopedia reports scientists believe that more than 8,000 earthquakes occur each day without causing damage. A little more than 1,000 each year are strong enough to be felt. Earthquakes occur in the general sense, anywhere on land. Other earthquakes go by different names, such as volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, large tidal wave storms that occur underwater, primarily in the Pacific Ocean.
Mr. Adams describes the San Francisco earthquake as his most profound human suffering experience because the horror of shaking floors, parts of his mom’s house collapse to the floor, and got a broken nose from stumbling into a brick wall (Ansel Adams & The 1906 Earthquake 2008). Earthquakes are part of natural disasters of the earth and normally caused by shaking the ground and rapid movement of one block of rock slipping past another along fractures in the earth crust called faults. Faults are usually locked excluding abrupt movements with slippage that create earthquakes (Lutgens, F. & Tarbuck,
The earth is split into four layers, inner and outer core, the mantle and crust. The top of the mantle and crust make up what is like the skin of our earth (see source 2). The skin is split up like a puzzle and we call these puzzle pieces’ tectonic plates (see source 1). These plates are constantly moving and the plate boundaries (edges of the plates) move and slide past one another. Sometimes as the plates move the plate boundaries become stuck. Pressure builds up in the stuck area over time and eventually breaks. This is why earthquakes occur due to the sudden movement of the plate sliding and breaking creating a fault line to go off. The fault line is the line on which the
They are the earth’s crust; they move very slowly every year. As the tectonic plates slide over each other they cause earthquakes. Earthquakes produce various damaging effects this includes damage to structures of buildings, bridges and other standing formations which then...
An earthquake is what happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where they slip is called the fault or fault plane. The location below the earth’s surface where the earthquake starts is called the hypocenter, and the location directly above it on the surface of the earth is called the epicenter.
An earthquake is a vibration of the Earths surface that follows a release of energy in the Earths crust. There are various ways this energy is released. Manmade explosions, dislocation of segments of the crust or volcanic eruptions are all triggers for an Earthquake; however, most are caused by a slippage of faults. A fault is a fracture in the Earths crust along which two blocks of the crust have slipped within one another. These faults are grouped into three categories (normal, thrust and strike-slip) and are located all over the Earth.
“Earthquakes are one of the most potent natural powers on earth and regularly affect people around the world. Unlike often equally destructive severe weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes, earthquakes can hit at any time. Earthquakes can also have a array of magnitudes with the strongest having disturbing consequences for the zones where they are concentrated, nearby areas, and even some far away in the instance of earthquake-generated tsunamis” (Briney 1). We think that the ground beneath us is unmoving but the earth’s crust is constantly moving and the destructive forces caused by this moving are called earthquakes. I will be talking about several topics: What causes earthquakes, two types of earthquakes, what their affects are, and what we are doing to predict future earthquakes.
The earthquake was caused by a strike-slip fault. A strike-slip fault is when the rupture is almost nearly vertical movement. During an earthquake, they slide past each other.
Plate tectonics can explain why there are earthquakes in the Earth reasonably. The definition of the earthquake is a fast and sudden movement of the Earth’s along geological faults, and the energy stored in stones is releasing in the meantime (Valentic, 2010). Figure 3 is showing some
Before I begin talking about earthquakes I should explain how earthquakes begin and their results. The movement of the earth plates are the ones that causes earthquakes. It occurs when plates meet along plate boundaries. When they move towards each other, one of the plates can be pushed down the bottom of the other plate, into the mantle. This is consider the subduction zone. When the plates gets stuck, it causes a lot of pressure on the surrounding rocks. The pressure will released and produce shock waves, they are called seismic waves and in other words, this will be called an earthquake. In this essay I will talk about the earthquake in Chile from 1962. I will speak how this earthquake affected the earth and the damages, not only to earth,
Thousands of Earthquakes happen every day around the world, but only a few of these are actually strong enough to be felt. And fewer still are strong enough to cause any damage to structures, even so Earthquakes have the ability to destroy entire Cities or even entire countries (See 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami). But what causes Earthquakes to occur, what happens to a Cities Infrastructure (Utilities, Roads, and Buildings) when one does strike, and what can city leaders and citizens do to prepare before one hits?