earthquakes vibrations of the earths crust occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault when...

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Earthquakes • Vibrations of the earths crust • Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault • When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to be locked • Rocks come under stress • Friction over come • Rocks grind past each other • Slippage causes trembling earthquakes

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Page 1: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Earthquakes

• Vibrations of the earths crust• Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault• When friction prevents rocks from moving the

fault is said to be locked• Rocks come under stress• Friction over come• Rocks grind past each other• Slippage causes trembling earthquakes

Page 2: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Elastic Rebound Theory• Rocks on each side of the fault moving slowly• If fault is locked stress on rocks increase• Stressed past a certain point the rocks fracture• Separate at weakest point• Spring back to original shape or rebound• As they fracture and slip they release energy in

the form of vibrations called seismic waves• Release of energy causes stress in other rocks

causing them to fracture and spring back: aftershocks

Page 3: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Definitions

• Focus: area of a fault where slippage first occurs

• Epicenter: point on the earth’s surface directly above the focus

Page 4: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Focus can be• Shallow• Within 70 km of the earths surface• Most damage caused here

• Intermediate• Occur at a depth of between 70 and 300 km

• Deep• Between 33 and 650 km • By the time vibrations from intermediate focus or deep focus earthquake

reach the surface, much of their energy has been used up. For this reason they do less damage

Page 5: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Fun fact

• *Earthquakes do not usually originate any deeper than 650 km because the high temperatures here cause rocks to act like plastics rather than fracturing.

Page 6: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Earthquake zones

• Pacific Ring of Fire• Large earthquake zone• Includes the west coasts of North and South America,

the east coast of Asia and the western pacific islands of the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, and New Zealand.

• Some plates are being subducted• Some plates are being scraped past each other• Plate movements cause stress to build up in the rocks • They fracture and shift

Page 7: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Mid Ocean Ridge

Oceanic crust pulling away from both sides of the ridge

Causes stress in the rocks along the major ocean ridges

Page 8: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Eurasian- Mountain Belt

– Eurasian plate colliding with African and Indian plates

– Causes mountains and earthquakes– What mountain range is this causing (Himalayans)

Page 9: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to

Fault Zones

• Formed at plate boundaries because of intense stress when plates separate, collide, subduct or slide past each other

• Example San Andreas Fault: Pacific plate slipping along North American plate

Page 10: Earthquakes Vibrations of the earths crust Occur when rocks shift suddenly under a fault When friction prevents rocks from moving the fault is said to